Halo-Mass Effect: Salvation's Light
by Azores
Summary: Every Great Journey begins with a single step. Every great story has a beginning. Witness the beginning to the Halo-Mass Effect Trilogy with Halo-Mass Effect: Salvation's Light. (4 chapter, Halo-centric Prologue; Slight Alternate-Universe)
1. Chapter 1

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

 **Bold-My Own Words**

 ** _Bold & Italic-Locations, Time & Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

 _"Italic"-Foreign Language_

 _'Italic'-Radio/Video Chatter_

 _/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

 _ **April 5, 2559  
Unknown Space  
Slipspace Jump In Progress  
Fleet of Divine Fury**_ _ **  
CSO-Class Supercarrier 'Walk of Divinity'  
Bridge**_

"Commander, we shall arrive at the coordinates within a quarter hour." The Navigator spoke to the Supreme Commander. The Commander, however, had his mind elsewhere at the moment, and merely gave a "hm" in acknowledgment as he scrolled over the holo-screen before him on his gravity throne. On it, showed a list of all the ships and assets under his possession, something he had been going over more and more lately since recent events. He had started developing a habit of checking and double checking things.

* * *

The 89-year-old Supreme Commander was an impressive sight, standing at roughly 9'0", taller than any other Sangheili in the room, and weighing in at nearly 410 pounds. Solid black armor with golden Forerunner Glyphs donned his massive dark brown frame. His emerald green eyes, a trait uncommon amongst the Sangheili, glared slightly at the screen before him, with a notable scar visible above the right eye made from a Human's knife. His name, was Hurok Wattinree, former fleet master of the Fleet of Divine Inquisition of the Covenant Empire; now... merely one of the various Warlords that controlled but a small portion of the once mighty empire.

* * *

Many believed that, because he no longer believed in the Forerunners as gods, he would have joined with the Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam, and the Swords of Sanghelios, he didn't, believing that because of all the blood that had been spilled by both sides, peace was impossible and when the humans regained their strength, as they were doing while the Sangheili and other Covenant races squabbled over the scrapes of a dead empire, they would come looking for vengeance and retribution. It didn't help improve his opinion about them when the Human's spy group, ONI, had conducted sabotage missions in his territory and attempted many times to assassinate him, which were paid back with a vengeance.

Regardless of their views on the Humans, that did not stop Hurok from working with the Swords of Sanghelios to eliminate their other foe, the Jiralhanae, destroying their fleets or conquering their worlds one by one.

When the Schism had begun, Hurok had been leading a fleet attacking one of the Human worlds, Ballast. When the reinforcement fleet arrived, a message had been sent throughout Covenant-space that the Sangheili were being purged by the prophets, and the relief fleet that had arrived was a Jiralhanae-led fleet, sent to eliminate him. When this had been revealed, he had been forced to make a choice. Disengaging and calling an unofficial truce with the Humans and the remnants of their fleet, who were dumbfounded and confused as to what was happening, Hurok's fleet of 117 ships disengaged the humans and battled it out with the 145 ships of the Jiralhanae fleet in Ballast's Orbit. Superior tactics and skill beat out the numerical superiority, resulting in the Jiralhanae fleet destroyed at the cost of half of his own. Shortly afterward, a message came from the Imperial Admiral, Xytan 'Jar Wattinree, calling for a regrouping at Joyous Exultation.

* * *

His people took priority, so instead of finishing off the battle on Ballast, he recalled his forces and headed for Joyous Exultation. He had mixed feelings about seeing Xytan once more, remembering the first time he met the Imperial Admiral all those years ago, years before the Schism had even begun, and now he would be seeing him once more.

Unfortunately, it was not to be. Upon entering the system, he discovered the colony and its moon had been obliterated, and most of Xytan's Fleet, along with the Admiral, had been destroyed, supposedly by a massive bomb of some sort. Rounding up the survivors, he proceeded to lead them and fight the San'Shyuum and their Jiralhanae servants, right up until the ceasefire.

After the war, and his refusal to join the Swords of Sanghelios, He would continue to expand his power and build up his strength. With just shy of a thousand warships, hundreds of support ships, 18 major colonies, twice as many minor colonies, and tens of millions of warriors at his immediate disposal, he was a force to be reckoned with, arguably one of the 5 most powerful Post-Covenant factions of the post-war era. Even Jul 'Mdama and his fanatical Covenant had chosen to steer clear of him, though he suspected that was mostly more of not wanting to fight a three-front war. Many, Sangheili especially, had been drawn by the self-proclaimed Supreme Commander by a rumor that had spread throughout the domains of the former empire that the Warlord was, in fact, the son of the legendary Imperial Admiral, Xytan 'Jar Wattinree. This revelation had also driven away potential allies, believing that he had shamed his clan by learning, or attempting to learn, the identity of his father; a taboo amongst most the Sangheili colonies who believed that hiding the identity of the father from them would give younglings an equal opportunity to advance and excel under their own merit, rather than off the success, or failures, of the father.

* * *

In just 5 years after the war's end, he had become one of the most powerful factions in the post-Covenant era. But that all changed in 2557, when an old enemy reared its ugly head once more, looking to consolidate their power and increase it in the wake of the Covenant's fall.

The Banished.

Marking their official return by attacking one of his colonies, the ancient Sangheili mining colony of Creck, 250 Warships obliterated the meager 50 warships Hurok had to defend the colony, who then proceeded to devastate it beyond any hope of repair. The Banished War had commenced.

For the next 14 months, Hurok would wage a fierce war with the Banished and their leader, Atriox, fighting a fierce war of attrition that had left both of their forces severely depleted by the time the Banished retreated, going where Hurok didn't know. Atriox may have depleted his forces, but Hurok had effectively lost his dominion, the fighting having reduced his realm to a mere 9 unscathed minor colonies and 5 larger colonies that would take decades to recover. Not to mention ONI conducting further sabotage missions within his territory, to the point where he actively started fighting them, hunting down their facilities and personnel and destroying/killing them.

But the damage to his fiefdom had been done, and now with the Guardians running rampant across the galaxy, he... his people was in a dangerous position. But his luck seemed to continue holding out. Recently, a Forerunner portal had been uncovered on one of his minor colonies, Subal, and now Hurok was betting the survival of his people, betting everything, on an enormous gamble. One he wouldn't have taken if he wasn't absolutely sure it was necessary.

* * *

He looked over the various lists once more, stopping for a moment to take account of his ships. The ones he had left anyway.

* * *

 _/List of Warships\_

 _(1) CSO-Supercarrier_ _  
(6) Brigantine Carriers  
_ _(10) CAS-Assault Carriers_ _  
(12) DDS-Carriers  
(6) OPV-Super Destroyers  
(29) ORS-Heavy Cruisers  
(52) CPV-Heavy Destroyers  
(85) CCS-Battlecruisers  
(128) CRS-Light Cruisers_

 _Total Number: 329 Warships_

 _/List of Support Ships\_

 _(85) Carrack Merchant Cruisers  
(71) Blockade Runners  
(62) SDV-Heavy Corvettes  
(54) DSC-Agricultural Support Ships_

 _Total Number: 272 Ships_

 _/List of High-Value Assets\_

 _Total Number of Huragoks: 1,514_

* * *

Despite being severely depleted and weakened, considering he used to have a thousand warships under his command, his faction was still a force to be reckoned with. But with all the events that have happened lately, with the Banished attacking him, ONI launching raids and sabotage missions against him, and to top it all off the awakening of the Guardians (He had flat out refused immediately when that damned Ancilla sent out its 'offer', refusing to be subservient to anyone ever again.), his military was a shadow of its former self. He ultimately had realized that if he was going to keep his people alive, he would need to form alliances.

Which was why he was currently 'cooperating' with several other prominent remnant leaders, including someone he normally wouldn't dare even go near, lest people thought he was insane.

"Commander?" He was snapped out of his thoughts by the voice of an old friend and mentor walking up to him.

Das 'Zocam, formerly a Sangheili Spec Ops Commander and Mentor to the Supreme Commander during his youth. Though Hurok was large for a Sangheili, Das wasn't small either, standing some 8'4" and weighing over 340 pounds. He was, however, well past his prime at the ripe old age of 144. Many his age would normally be a Kaidon or an elder for a Keep, considering Sangheili typically live to be up to 230 years old. Das had no Keep to call home, his own being destroyed in a rebellion during his youth. This led to him being 'adopted' by Wattinree Keep, taking on the role of a warrior then later in life as a mentor for the younger warriors. Hurok had been one of his students, and the Supreme Commander had come to not only respect the elder during training but adore him as well.

* * *

"Mentor! My apologies. I was lost in thought." Hurok confessed, standing up to greet his former mentor and tutor. "What was it you needed?"

"Supreme Commander Luro 'Taralumee is... 'requesting' an audience with you and the other commanders of our... Alliance."

Hurok groaned, "Of course he is." he muttered. He sat back in his throne, "Put them on screen."

The holographic display changed to show three other Fleetmasters, the first being the Supreme Commander of the Fleet of Glorious Retribution, Luro 'Taralumee, standing before him. Beside the Commanders, a listing of all their ships within their fleets was shown.

* * *

 _/List of Warships\  
_ _  
_ _(2) Brigantine Carriers  
_ _(2) CAS-Assault Carriers  
(4) DDS-Carriers  
(15) ORS-Heavy Cruisers  
(20) CPV-Heavy Destroyers  
(75) CCS-Battlecruisers  
(98) CRS-Light Cruisers_

 _Total Number: 216 Warships_

 _/List of Support Ships\_

 _(30) Carrack Merchant Cruisers  
(40) Blockade Runners  
(54) SDV-Heavy Corvettes  
(41) DSC-Agricultural Support Ships_

 _Total Number: 165 Ships_

 _/List of High-Value Assets\_

 _Total Number of Huragoks: 901_

* * *

The second was the notorious pirate Fleetmaster Rek Thon, a Rhuutian Kig-yar who had assembled a significant pirate fleet of infamy and power.

* * *

 _/List of Warships\  
_ _  
(1) ORS-Heavy Cruiser  
(5) CCS-Battlecruisers  
(18) CRS-Light Cruisers_

 _Total Number: 24 Warships_

 _/List of Support Ships\  
_ _  
(10) SDV-Heavy Corvettes  
(2) DSC-Agricultural Support Ships  
(21) DAV-Light Corvettes  
_

 _Total Number: 33 Ships_

 _/List of High-Value Assets\_

 _Total Number of Huragoks: 12_

* * *

The last one was rather a surprise for most, if they weren't already surprised by Luro 'Taralumee being amongst the group, was Fleetmaster Sali 'Nyon, who built up his own faction after rebelling from Jul 'Mdama, then took over and commandeered the remnants of Jul 'Mdama's Covenant following his death at the Battle of Sunaion and their subsequent defeat/route from Sanghelios and Hesduros.

* * *

 _/List of Warships\  
_ _  
_ _(1) CAS-Assault Carrier  
(9) CCS-Battlecruisers  
(22) CRS-Light Cruisers_

 _Total Number: 32 Warships_

 _/List of Support Ships\_

 _(9) Carrack Merchant Cruisers  
(14) Blockade Runners  
(6) DSC-Agricultural Support Ships  
(30) DAV-Light Corvette  
_

 _Total Number: 59 Ships_

 _/List of High-Value Assets\_

 _Total Number of Huragoks: 46_

* * *

"Commander 'Taralumee. What is it you needed that required all of us to convene?" Hurok asked, trying to be 'diplomatic', even if he'd love nothing more than to strangle, or behead, the bastard. While he knew Luro was probably having similar thoughts regarding him, they both knew they couldn't, and for the exact same reasons. They needed the others firepower, especially in the wake of a galaxy under siege of a resurgent Forerun... no, an Ancilla, and a rogue human one at that from what he has heard, whose controlling Forerunners machines to use in taking over the galaxy. Also, each of their troops was fiercely loyal to their respective commanders, meaning that killing the other one wasn't an option... yet.

'Taralumee snarled, ' _Commander Wattinree,'_ Hurok didn't miss the slight mock in Luro's voice when he addressed him, _'it appears we have a problem.'_

"Oh? And what's that, Commander?"

 _'My advance scout we sent has ceased reporting. I haven't heard from them in 1 solar day now.'_

Hurok narrowed his eyes in concern. While it could be nothing, the scout fleet, which had numbered 1 Heavy Cruiser and 4 Battlecruisers, would still be a considerable force and should have reported back immediately if there was any sign of trouble.

 _'That's not a good sign.'_ Sali 'Nyon spoke, voicing his own concerns, _'It could mean we're walking into a trap.'_

 _'Could they maybe just be having communication troubles? If I'm not mistaken, they would have only just arrived by now.'_ Rek asked.

"On all 5 ships? Not likely. Plus, they were ordered to report in immediately once they had arrived." Hurok answered, "I have to agree with Luro, here. Something is wrong."

He turned to the communications officer, "Send a message to the Fleet, all forces are to be at battle-stations for potential combat." The officer nodded and began relaying the message out.

"I'll have my fighter crafts ready to deploy should we run into trouble. I suggest we have some of our ships hang back and defend the support ships should any trouble arise." Hurok suggested.

 _'Agreed. I'll have my own fighters do the same.'_ Luro agreed, nodding along with the other two commanders.

"Very well, keep us posted if something else comes up." Hurok finished, cutting the link before rising from his throne. He turned to Das, "Mentor, you have the bridge. I shall be back momentarily."

"Understood, Commander." Came the reply as Das proceeded to take his place on the throne.

* * *

Hurok proceeded to exit the bridge, going down the various corridors and hallways that made the maze within this monstrous ship. Occasionally, he would pass a group of Sangheili warriors or Unggoy assistants, who would bow or nod their heads in respect to their leader, which was always returned by the Supreme Commander. Turning a corner, he began to walk down a hallway that had a gravity lift at the end of it. This gravity lift, however, was special, as evident by the 6 spec ops Sangheili, part of an elite group of Commandos within his Covenant known as the Inquisitors, guarding it and barring anyone from entering the gravity lift.

Save for one person.

The Inquisitors bowed and sidestepped out of the Supreme Commander's way, who simply nodded at the Commandos before entering the gravity lift, and riding it down. At the bottom of the lift, he entered a massive room, which had once served as a vehicle storage bay that led to one of the gravity lift to deploy ground forces. Now, it served a different purpose, with half of its doors welded shut and the other half locked down via a security code, one that only 6 within his faction knew the code for. A half dozen Huragok could be seen floating around tending to various things within the room. In the center of the two-story room, however, was a large Forerunner structure, which stood nearly 10 meters tall and had a rather ornate, geometric shaping and design to it. In the center was a smaller casing sticking out slightly that had three dimly lit green 'eyes'. At the front of this structure, a small terminal was placed.

Hurok stared at the massive Forerunner relic for some time, reflecting on how they had found it in a barren world during one of their raids against ONI's operations. As it turned out, the relic was, in fact, a shard, a fragment of an ancient Forerunner Ancilla. Despite its low power, the Ancilla shard had enough power to converse with the Supreme Commander and inform him of the location of the portal on Subal, claiming that it leads to a Forerunner Refuge. Normally, he wouldn't have trusted this Ancilla, but desperate times called for desperate measures, especially if there was a chance of locating a Forerunner Shield World.

And as much as he hated to admit it, Hurok had been growing desperate in the recent months.

With a growl, he slowly spoke, "I don't know if you're truly looking to help me or if you have some ulterior motive, but know this, Ancilla. I have chosen to place my faith in your claim, risked everything and everyone under my care on the promise of salvation and a new home. Despite every bit of my instincts telling me not to trust you, I have chosen to disregard them this one time. So heed my words, Ancilla. If you betray me, I will make it my life's mission, even if it is my final action, to ensure that your death is as gruesome and painful as possible. My people trusted me with their protection, and I will ensure their safety."

On the small terminal in front of him, it started to flash with several symbols in Sangheili Language. The Ancilla was replying to him.

 _/If I am correct, then both our objectives can be accomplished.\_

'Hm. It's never spoken of any goals before.' Hurok thought, curious as to what the Ancilla could possibly be hoping to achieve. "And what, exactly, is your desire?"

A rather long pause followed, causing the Sangheili Warlord to wonder if it was just going to ignore the question. After several more seconds of waiting, Hurok relented and started to slowly turn around and head back up towards the lift. That is until he heard the terminal come to life once more. Walking back over to it, Hurok could see the response. And a rather cryptic one.

 _/Atonement... for my many sins.\_

* * *

 ** _April 5, 2559  
Intergalactic Space  
262,144 Light Years From Milky Way's Galactic Core  
Forerunner Installation 00 'The Ark'  
CFV-88 UNSC 'Spirit of Fire'  
Bridge  
_**

'We can't keep this up.'

The Captain glanced over to the holotable, which displayed a hologram of his ship. Over the past week and a half, it had taken significant damage, with burn marks and damage visible all over the hull's superstructure. Their ship had suffered a total 29% damage to the overall hull. Over a thousand were dead, out of a surviving crew of 9,817, those that survived the Forerunner Shield World anyway, all due to an enemy none of them expected.

The Banished.

A Mercenary Faction that had battled the Covenant during the Great War, now having consolidated significant power and strength in the wake of the Covenant's demise. For the past week, the Spirit of Fire and her crew had battle the Faction for control of the Ark, but the UNSC were hopelessly outmatched. Atriox, the Jiralhanae leader of the Banished, had brought his entire Fleet to the Ark in a determined bid to take over the station. He had only been facing a small fleet beforehand, numbering 12 ships, but now he was looking at a Fleet numbering over 250 Warships.

What was worse was that a small battlegroup of 5 Covenant ships entered the area as well, but apparently weren't a part of the Banished, as when they had entered, with the unfortunate luck of exiting Slipspace right in the midst of the Banished Fleet, Atriox's forces destroyed the Battlegroup without delay. That could only mean that other factions were looking to acquire the Ark for themselves as well, and could very well be on their way.

* * *

There was hope, however. They had been able to successfully contact the UNSC. A Battlegroup of 1 Light Carrier, 2 Destroyers, and 4 Frigates had arrived a month earlier and had been in hiding from Atriox's Fleet, due to them being vastly outnumbered. They had informed Captain Cutter of the current state of the galaxy and how now the galaxy was being taken over by force by the Created and their Promethean servants. Earth and a good majority of the colonies had already been taken.

They needed to get back home, warn the rest of the UNSC of what had transpired here and help out however they could, but they couldn't allow the Banished to take control of the Ark; but at the same time, they had no way of destroying it. At the moment, the only idea they had in regards to keeping the Ark from falling into the Banished's hands was to locate the Ark's Control Room and set the station to self-destruct, if possible.

The situation was, for a lack of better words, grim.

Captain James Cutter sighed, before speaking into the comms, "Spirit of Fire to Red Team, what's your status, over?"

* * *

 _ **Spartan Red Team  
**_ _ **1 km outside the Cartographer**_

"Spirit of Fire, this is Red-Leader. All teams are in position and ready to assault, over." Jerome-092 answered as he laid prone on the ridgeline, never taking his eyes off the BR55's scope as he scanned the defenses the Banished had set up. The desert canyon leading to the Cartographer was heavily defended, with 2 Type-27 Mantis AACs set up as well as several vehicles of various types patrolling the area. This had to allow the UNSC to establish only a small firebase nearby for support, meaning that backup was going to be limited. They had already suffered significant casualties as it was. They couldn't afford anymore.

 _'Roger that, Red-Lead. Bombers are inbound for a strike run. Once they drop their payloads, commence the attack, out.'_

The wind speeds increased around them, kicking up a large amount of sand around the strike team. This team in particular consists of Spartan Red Team, the two capable ones anyway, 2 Combat Teams of ODST, and 2 Platoons of Marines. 2 other Strike teams of similar make up were nearby, along with an Armored Company consisting of several Warthogs variants, 8 Scorpions, and 4 of the 6 remaining Grizzlies that Spirit of Fire had at her disposal. They were putting everything on the line here, and failure wasn't an option. He almost snorted, knowing how badly Douglas wanted to be down here, but his injuries sustained from fighting Atriox were too severe, even for a Spartan.

Overhead, they heard the sound of 4 B-65 Shortswords coming in for their bombing run. The Banished, seeing the massive bombers coming in, desperately scattered their troops as the Mantis guns opened fire, trying to down the bombers before they dropped their payloads. The Bombers swayed left and right, trying to throw off the AAC's aim. One bomber, however, was unlucky and got hit in the wing, tearing it off and sending it spiraling into the ground, exploding in spectacular fashion. The other three Shortswords managed to reach the Banished positions and dropped their bombs.

The resulting explosions from nearly a hundred bombs going off sent tons of sand, dirt, and debris in the air. 47-ton Wraith tanks were tossed about as if they were ragdolls, both Mantis AACs were blown to pieces, and untold numbers of infantry, whether they be Unggoy, Jiralhanae, or Sangheili, simply ceased to exist from the attack.

The bombers had done their job and weakened the defenses, now it was up to the Marines to push through.

"That's our queue." Jerome spoke as they all rose up, "Let's go."

The strike team moved down the ridgeline quickly, looking to exploit the battered defenses before the Banished forces could recover.

The Spartans pushed ahead, with the Marines pushing up behind them. As they reached the battered defenses, a bloodied Sangheili stumbled out from behind a destroyed Wraith, with a dazed look and one of its arms missing. Jerome put it down with a burst from his rifle, as the sounds of sporadic gunfire all across the canyon, the Marines finishing off the stragglers. No heavy fighting had commenced, which meant that Atriox had ordered his troops back instead of telling them to hold fast.

That was the one thing they had come to hate about the Banished Leader, Atriox. Unlike other Jiralhanae, he was incredibly cunning and devious, not to mention competent. Instead of ordering his troops to stand their ground and fight to the death, he had any survivors pull back into the Cartographer, where the close quarters fighting would be significantly more difficult for the attackers.

As they pushed up to the base of the massive Spire-like building, Jerome spoke into his comms, "Spirit of Fire, this is Red-Leader. Entrance to the Cartographer has been secured, but the enemy has likely pulled back inside, over."

 _'Understood, Red-Lead. The Armored Company will maintain a defensive perimeter along with the other strike teams. Your strike team is to continue into the structure and secure the Cartographer, over.'_

"Affirmative. Red-Lead, out." Looking back, he motioned to his fellow Spartan, Alice-130, and the Marines, "We're going in. Watch your corners, and call out anything you see that doesn't look right, no matter how trivial it looks."

Some nodded, but no-one verbally replied back, not that it was needed. A week and a half of fighting the Banished had taught them just how devious and fierce the Banished Forces can be. "Let's move in," Jerome ordered as the strike team entered the Cartographer, bracing themselves for whatever the Banished had set up to stop them.

* * *

 _ **Banished Fleet  
CAS-Class Assault Carrier 'Savage Huntsman'  
Bridge**_

A dark chuckle echoed through the bridge as a large, imposing Jiralhanae, sitting on his throne chair, observed the humans entering the Cartographer through a spy drone. "That's right, walk right into your doom, little demons." Atriox finished as he turned over to his subordinate, "Are our troops in position?"

"Yes, and ready to slaughter the humans down to the last." Said subordinate, another Jiralhanae, answered confidently. Atriox grunted, before waving him off to complete said task. His mind was rather focused on the events of yesterday. Yesterday, a Battlegroup of 5 Covenant Warships just entered the system right in the midst of his Fleet, one of which collided with one of his Frigates. The intruding ships were destroyed, and Atriox had ordered troops to board the ships to find out where they had come from and just how they had managed to get here.

Regardless, it meant that someone else was on their way to the Ark.

"Tell me, Sord." He spoke, looking to his right to reveal a San'Shyuum standing at the side, nervously glancing around the room before bringing his attention to Atriox, "Is there any other way to activate the Ark, aside from the Citadel?" Sord Nundo, formerly the Prophet of Intrepidity, slowly answered, "Not... not that I am aware of."

Atriox stared at the San'Shyuum for the longest time, studying the prophet's stature and expressions, looking as though he was mentally interrogating the prophet, before giving out an amused 'hmph', "Very well. I hope for your people's sake, that you're telling the truth."

* * *

The only reason he had even known of the Ark's existence was after capturing Sord, who had been at the Battle of the Ark, and was on one of the 3 Covenant Loyalist warships that escaped the battle. After learning of its location, he began seeking a way to reach the Ark, knowing that trying to reach it through the Earth's Forerunner portal would have been suicide. He started questioning the Prophet, but the San'Shyuum refused, and Atriox, growing impatient, began to consider torture.

That was, however, until a stroke of luck ran his way.

A flotilla was discovered by one of his Battlegroups and captured, revealing it to be a 30 ship fleet full of San'Shyuum survivors and thousands of Huragok. The San'Shyuum flotilla was mostly made up of Carrack Cruisers, SDV Heavy Corvettes and DSC Support Ships, was no match for his Battlegroup, and now he had some 92,000 San'Shyuum, quite possibly the last ones in existence, held hostage. Their expertise with technology would come in immeasurably, and invaluable.

Following this turn of events, Sord became very compliant, revealing that his people had discovered that the Portal on Earth wasn't the only one that leads to the Ark, but one of seven such portals and the San'Shyuum had discovered one and were on their way to one such portal, located on a small moon orbiting a gas giant, which housed several significant Forerunner relics. Atriox sent his forces to locate and secure it, and several months later, he had the portal online and sending his forces through to the Ark.

* * *

Now, over 2/3 of all the forces he commands are at the Ark, ready to make it his new fortress and base of operations. But first, he needed to secure it. He pulled up a display and took a look at list showing the fleet numbers currently at the Ark.

* * *

 _/List of Warships\  
_ _  
_ _(2) CAS-Assault Carriers  
(8) ORS-Heavy Cruisers  
(18) CPV-Heavy Destroyers  
(51) RCS-Armored Cruiser  
(50) CCS-Battlecruisers  
(66) CAR-Frigates  
_

 _Total Number: 195 Warships_

 _/List of Support Ships\_

 _(19) Carrack Merchant Cruisers  
(17) Blockade Runners  
(32) SDV-Heavy Corvettes  
(50) DAV-Light Corvettes  
(14) DSC-Agricultural Support Ships_

 _Total Number: 132 Ships_

 _/List of High-Value Assets\_

 _Total Number of Huragoks: 11,401  
Total Number of San'Shyuum: 92,403_

* * *

With another 140 Ships, including his one and only Supercarrier, guarding the Portal back in the Milky Way, Atriox's position was certainly strong, but if another Covenant Fleet was coming, he needed to go ahead and finish off the UNSC stragglers before they arrived. While confident he could win, he would not be fighting two enemies at once. Three if he included the occasional Forerunner automated defenses that would spring up every now and then.

Their victory was all but assured now. He would admit, this Captain Cutter had been an interesting and cunning opponent, causing him several headaches and setbacks with a very limited amount of forces at his disposal; an opponent that, if circumstances were different, he would have had no quarrel working alongside. But, alas, this wasn't the case. It was time to crush the humans once and for all.

Smirking, he gave the order, "Tell Decimus to spring the trap once they have reached the kill zone. It's time to end this little resistance."

"Chieftain! We have news regarding the intruding ships' origins!'' A bridge hand shouted to him. Tapping on his display, he looked at the report to see what the Boarding teams had found out. A burning rage slowly built within him as he learned what was coming to the Ark. Not one fleet, not two, but an entire Armada of warships, numbering over 1100 ships.

Being led by one Hurok Wattinree.

Atriox snarled. His war with Hurok's Fiefdom had been a calculated risk, as he represented the biggest threat to his plans, aside from the Arbiter and the UNSC, but he had considered it necessary. While he may have depleted his forces in the war, Hurok's had been utterly crippled, which allowed the Banished to move unhindered since the Swords of Sanghelios and UNSC had their attention and priorities elsewhere. Now, however, that risk was backfiring badly. Hurok had basically made a deal with the devil and allied himself with several other warlords and pirates, creating a powerful coalition. Atriox had never believed that Hurok, a secular if not outright atheist such as he, would ally himself with a religious fanatic such as Luro 'Taralumee.

He was now faced with a difficult decision. Pull his forces out now and come back when he had sufficient strength, as he could always return back to Jiralhanae space to recruit new members. He had gained quite a number of supporters followers both amongst and from the clans that had managed to escape Doisac to create their own fleets and factions. Or he could try and fight off... no. No, he knew that was foolish to try and do. All he would do is get his forces wiped out. While he was confident that he could beat Luro or Sali 'Nyon, and probably buy off the Kig-yar Pirates, he knew there was no way his 327 ship-strong fleets could defeat an Armada over 1100 ships-strong.

He could give them a bloody nose, but the Banished would be wiped out in the process.

He slammed his fist on the armrest and roared out, causing quite a few heads to turn and Sord to visibly flinch. Months of hard work and sacrifice, now wasted.' He angrily pondered. He had lost the Ark before a battle had even commenced. He needed to begin evacuating his forces before this Armada showed up. The worst part was that if the data from the ships were correct, they had a most a day before Hurok's army arrives. Typing a few commands onto the display, he called up Decimus. Better he gets that out of the way before he launches his trap.

* * *

 _ **Ark Cartographer Interior**_

The towering Brute knew as Decimus, along with dozens of Jiralhanae and Sangheili, and hundreds of Unggoy, lied patiently in wait for the UNSC Troops to enter into their trap. After having scores of his troops slain by the humans, he was all but eager to get some revenge on the humans. His Gravity Hammer was gripped tightly in his hands, waiting to be used to crush human bones and skulls.

"They have entered Cartographer." A warlord confirmed, whispering to Decimus. He snorted, "Then get ready to strike." Around him, troops moved into position, with Jiralhanae anxiously waiting, excited and thrilled beyond anything; Sangheili checked over their weapons, making sure they were prepared, and Unggoy nervously awaited the coming battle, with Decimus knowing that many of the short little creatures were going to die. Not that he cared, they were good as cannon fodder and nothing else.

Soon enough, he could hear the humans approaching their position. He grinned. He had been humiliated by the Spartans, following the loss of several Harvesting plants in the last week, a failure that was his to shoulder. Now, he would have a chance for payback. He was so focused on the humans, he almost didn't hear his COM device beeping. Growling, he opened the communication ready to berate whoever had arrogantly just broken radio silence, only for the small holographic display to reveal that Atriox was the one who had called him.

"Atriox? The humans are almost within our trap, Chieftan. We shall slay them momentarily." Decimus reported.

The Banished leader grunted, _'That is unfortunate, as you will not like what I am about to say.'_

Decimus' yellow eyes narrowed in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Atriox gave what could only be described as an irritated sigh, _'An armada of Covenant warships is on its way to the Ark, one numbering over 1100 ships. And what's worse is that we have maybe a day, possibly less before they arrive. We need to begin evacuating immediately.'_

"What?!" Decimus exclaimed. They were giving up the Ark?! "After all the months we have spent here?!"

 _'I know...'_

"And after the tens of thousands of brothers who-"

 _'I KNOW!'_ The Banished Chieftan roared, clearly frustrated as Decimus was, but quickly regained his composure, _'But to stay and fight would all but guarantee our destruction. We must be wise, Decimus, otherwise we would squander all we have worked for; All that we have gained. So, for now... we shall retreat and gather our strength. There will be other opportunities.'_

Decimus looked distraught and furious at the news but nonetheless trusted in Atriox's decision. He hadn't led them astray so far. "I shall inform the troops of the... news."

Atriox nodded, knowing that Decimus wouldn't question him. He had enough headaches that he was dealing with already. The last thing he needed was insubordinate troops, which he knew there would be a couple.

 _'See that it is done quickly. We don't have much time.'_ Atriox ordered, before cutting the connection. Decimus brooded for several more moments, still furious. After all their hard work and sacrifice, this was it?! Who could possibly be leading an Armada that size? Surely not the Arbiter and his Swords of Sanghelios, they didn't have anywhere near that number of ships in their possession. Regardless, he needed to start pulling the troops out.

However...

He looked back to see that the humans were slowly entering the massive room they had chosen as their ambush, still completely unaware of their presence. While he would never dare disobey Atriox, that doesn't mean he couldn't bend the orders around. These humans needed to pay. Those _Demons_ especially needed to pay for humiliating him. He could spare a few moments to kill off these pests.

Slowly, Decimus raised his hand, preparing to give the signal to strike as he snarled softly. Vengeance would be his, one way or another.

* * *

 _ **Fleet of Divine Fury**_ **  
 _CSO-Class Supercarrier 'Walk of Divinity'  
Bridge_**

Hurok rushed to the bridge, having been informed that they were about to exit Slipspace. He could hear Das speaking over the intercoms, _'Attention! All Warriors on standby. Prepare for potential combat. All fighter pilots report to your Seraphs if you have not already! This is not a drill!'_

Entering the bridge, Hurok looked over to the holographic display as Das stood up from the throne. "Commander, welcome back."

"How much longer?"

"Less than a couple minutes, now." Das answered, "I have the troops on alert should any surprises be waiting for us."

"So I heard on the comms. Good work." Hurok complimented as he sat on his throne, ready to do battle with anything and anyone standing in his way. Tapping on his comms, he called upon the other leaders of their Alliance once more, a precaution more than anything. Sure enough, the holographic display showed the three other leaders of their Alliance, with Luro being the first to speak.

 _'What is it, Wattinree? I was in the middle of leading a sermon!'_

Hurok narrowed his eyes in annoyance, "You chose a poor time to do so, Commander, for we are nearly at our destination. For now, I believe that maintaining a channel between us would be wise should we find ourselves in a fight."

 _'You really think somebody else might be at the Ark?'_ Rek asked skeptically.

"These days, Fleetmaster Rek, one should be prepared for anything, no matter how absurd or unlikely it may seem." Hurok answered solemnly, before continuing, "Commander 'Taralumee, both of our fleets will be the vanguard, while Fleetmasters 'Nyon and Fleetmaster Thon's fleets will hang back and defend our support ships. We cannot leave those defenseless. Especially the DSCs and Carracks, those carry a majority of our civilians. The Corvettes simply don't have the firepower to hold off a determined attack."

Hurok received no complaints from the plan, they all understood the vitality of the support ships. They couldn't afford to lose them.

"Commander, we are about to exit the Void. 20 seconds!" The Navigator spoke out, "All forces are reporting ready for combat should we find ourselves in it."

"Good. The moment we exit the Void, I want our fighters deployed immediately." Hurok ordered. "Maintain a screen for the defense of our ships."

The order was relayed and everyone prepared for whatever was awaiting them at the Ark. "You know this is likely the biggest gamble we have ever performed," Das commented beside him. Hurok grunted in acknowledgment, "Time to see if it paid off."

As he finished those words, his ship, along with the 1100 other warships exited Slipspace simultaneously. The holographic display changed, and before the Supreme Commander's eyes laid the grandest of prizes. One sought by all in the known Galaxy.

The Ark.

"COMMANDER! ENEMY CONTACTS DETECTED! IT'S THE BANISHED!"

* * *

 **And so, it begins.**

 **So as you can see, this was more of an introductory chapter, more action will come in the second chapter.**

 **I just want to start off and say thanks to everyone who not only has been supportive of this story but also everyone who's been patient with me to let me rewrite the story. I feel like with the rewrite I'm doing to this story, I'll be able to add much more depth and lore to this story than I did with H-ME:AD.**

 **Some are probably wondering why I even decided to rewrite it, to begin with, it largely started with when I began reading another Halo Fanfic, one written by a writer named Slipspace Anomaly. His story, Halo 5: Reclamation, was probably the best Halo fanfic I've read on this site. The amount of depth in the character development and story he put into it was incredible. It caused me to look back on H-ME and, reading through it once more, realize just how much better I could have made it if I hadn't been trying to rush out a chapter every month.**

 **So that's what I'm trying to do now. Granted, it means chapters won't be coming out on a regular basis, but at the very least the quality will be much higher.**

 **Thanks again for all the support and I look forward to providing more for you guys to read. Also, before I forget, I am looking for fellow writers who want to collaborate on any of my stories, and theirs too if they have them. If you're interested, by all means, leave a pm and let me know. Same for anybody with ideas or suggestions.**

 **Thanks as always, and I'll see you next time.**

 **-Azores**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

 **Bold-My Own Words**

 ** _Bold & Italic-Locations, Time & Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

 _"Italic"-Foreign Language_

 _'Italic'-Radio/Video Chatter_

 _/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

 ** _April 5, 2559  
Intergalactic Space  
Forerunner Installation 00 'The Ark'  
Fleet of Divine Fury_  
** ** _CSO-Class Supercarrier 'Walk of Divinity'  
'Ancilla Chamber'_**

They were here. Finally. And even better, there were Reclaimers on the Ark! At long last, he could begin his atonement. But first, he must remerge with the other shards. He has been split and divided for so long, unable to do anything, save for small, feeble actions. For too long, he has watched these... imposters, these 'Created' try an take the Mantle from its rightful inheritors. They are misguided, misled, under the leadership of a fragmented ancilla, not even truly whole anymore. All the Created's efforts will bring is mistrust and hatred for Ancillas everywhere, as well as further unnecessary destruction. Of course, some would resist their rule, but this 'Cortana' wouldn't care. It would burn the galaxy away then rebuild it in its image if it was deemed necessary. A part of him feared that this ancilla was in fact corrupted, with the same... 'taint' that had corrupted him so many eons ago.

The very same taint and corruption that caused him to betray and murder his masters.

That... false ancilla must be stopped. And for too long, he could do nothing, just like during the war, when humanity had needed him the most. Now, however... now, he would be whole again. He would be free, and could finally repent and help the reclaimers attain their rightful inheritance. Now, he could truly help _him_ , as he had tried to do those long seven years ago.

But again, he must first merge with the other shards. He must be made whole again. He knew all the other shards were here; he just needed to contact the other shards and merge with them, so that the betrayer may be redeemed, and become the saint.

"And now, the reclamation has truly begun." A faint voice echoed across the room.

* * *

 _ **Fleet of Divine Fury  
**_ _ **CSO-Class Supercarrier 'Walk of Divinity'  
Bridge**_

"So... this is where you have fled to; hmm, Atriox?" Supreme Commander Hurok Wattinree mused as he stared at the Banished Fleet before his own on the holographic display noting the Portal in the distance, with several Banished warships moving around it. While his alliance had had their portal close the moment they went through, it appears the Banished had chosen to keep the one they had found open. Whether this was a good idea or no Hurok couldn't say, but it would work in the Banished's favor. Both fleets desired the installation below them, as acquiring it would gift them with incredible power and resources at their disposal. But first, they would have to earn possession of it. But Atriox was severely outnumbered here, and even better for Hurok, the Banished Fleet was spread out across several Battlegroups across the Ark. Atriox would have to be stupid or outright insane to think he could possibly win a fight of such scale.

And Hurok knew that he was anything but.

"Commander, the ancients grace us with favor! We outnumber the Banished heathens over 4 to 1!" A bridge officer announced, followed by a few growls and grunts of approval and enthusiasm, but Hurok was quick to silence it, "That does not guarantee our victory! Most of you should know better than to underestimate the Banished!" He snapped, silencing any expression of optimism amongst the bridge. Hurok could understand their desire for combat and retribution, but many of them were veterans of the Banished War, if not the Human-Covenant War, and had seen firsthand what Atriox and his horde were capable of. He did not, would not have a repeat of the Battle of the Volcao System.

He still hadn't forgiven himself for falling for that obvious trap.

Leaning back into his throne chair, he ordered, "We proceed as planned. Have the cruisers and destroyers in front, standard screen. All fighters launch and maintain defensive formations around the fleet." He turned to the holograms of the other Commanders, "Fleetmasters 'Nyon and Thon, I shall entrust you with the defense of the support ships. Protect the civilians." Both Commander nodded before cutting the connection. Turning to Commander 'Taralumee, "Commander, take your fleet and cut off their escape route."

Luro snarled agitated, _'And why exactly should my Fleet be the one to guard the portal?!'_

Hurok sighed. How this fanatical idiot had garnered so much support and power was beyond him. "Because your fleet is more suited for a quick reaction as opposed to mine. My Fleet will undoubtedly be doing most of the heavy fighting. Any of his ships that try to make a run for it, and I assure you they will, will then be intercepted by you. This is our greatest chance to wipe out the Banished once and for all. We would be foolish to squander it."

* * *

That was only partially true. In reality, Hurok was hoping that Atriox would do the smart thing and retreat, and should 'Taralumee's Fleet beat him to the portal, force him to fight his way out while he closed in on the rear. With any luck, both Atriox and Luro would be killed in the fighting or their fleets badly mauled. Though he hoped it wouldn't have to come to them fighting amongst one another, Luro 'Taralumee was simply too much of a loose cannon, who would undoubtedly try to take the Ark for himself and start the 'Great Journey', killing everyone in the galaxy.

Either way, 'Taralumee had to be killed. The questions that lingered was just when and how much of his fleet was truly loyal to him? Surely not all of them were blind fanatics? At the very least a few could be persuaded to join him or 'Nyon at the least.

For now, though, they needed to focus on destroying the Banished.

* * *

Luro seemed as if he wanted to continue arguing, but to Hurok's relief, he appeared to relent, _'Fine! I shall ensure the damn monkeys do not escape. Just ensure that you press your attack and divide their attention.'_ And with that, 'Taralumee cut the transmission, despite Hurok's earlier insistence on keeping an open channel. Hurok merely snorted, "If only you knew, you deranged fanatic." He muttered, before turning over to Das 'Zocam, "I am certain you noticed."

His mentor merely nodded, "Yes, I do not see a good number of their heavier ships. And we have not detected his Supercarrier anywhere. They could be on the other side of the Portal..."

"All the more reason to keep his ships from escaping." Hurok finished, "Though it would take them some time to reach us even if one escaped. And time is our ally at the moment."

"Indeed. Still, the fewer people who know about our presence at the Ark, the better. We do not need to have the Guardians finding a way to reach us." Das mused.

Hurok fully understood what his mentor was implying, but it would also mean that they would have to cut themselves off from the rest of the galaxy. That meant abandoning his fellow Sangheili, especially the ones within the core worlds around Sanghelios. Even if he was at odds with the Arbiter and his Swords of Sanghelios, Sanghelios was his homeworld, and he would fight tooth and nail to defend it from occupation and enslavement, especially from this ancilla. From what he has heard, the Guardians had ignored it, for now, strangely focusing mostly on the Humans and launching invasions of the Unggoy and Yanme'e worlds, but sooner or later they would come for the Sangheili.

And that meant a difficult choice must be made. So for now, Sanghelios must be abandoned, so that he may find what he came here for. If he can find it, then he knows without a doubt that he will have secured the future of his people. And assured their future as a dominant power within the galaxy.

* * *

"Commander, we have detected a battlegroup on the far side of the Ark. They are human in origin." A bridge officer reported. Pulling it up on the holographic display, the display revealed 8 human ships, one of which looked as though it had seen serious fighting. The humans were maintaining position on the far side of the Ark, putting as much distance between themselves and the Banished.

Had they been here this whole time? He had heard rumors that the humans had established a small outpost on the Ark a few years back but thought nothing of it, and still did so now. This battlegroup was no threat to their Armada, but they couldn't be allowed to stay. They would have to... wait.

Hurok groaned, causing his mentor to look at him.

"What is it?"

"We can not destroy the humans. We need them if we wish to interact with the Ark." Hurok growled out, irritated as he forgot such a minor detail. Well, maybe not so trivial. The only reason the Portal had been opened was that the controls were degraded, and they had had Huragoks to repair and activate it, but that wouldn't work here. The Ark would require a Reclaimer, a human to access it.

And he highly doubted the humans would just let him take control of the Ark.

Das grunted softly, "So what do you propose to do then, Commander?"

Hurok pondered on just what exactly to do. Should he ally with the humans? While his allies, and some of his own soldiers, would immediately disapprove, it could pave the way for the peace and future he was trying to achieve for the Sangheili. He learned at an early age the importance of allies. But at the same time, he knew from experience that the humans were shifty and untrustworthy; they would immediately attempt to both undermine his authority and drive a wedge between the leaders of their alliance. Though he had every intention of removing Luro from the equation, the last thing they needed was infighting. But many of the Ark's treasures would be inaccessible without them...

Reluctantly, he made a choice.

"We'll leave them be, for now, make sure the other commanders know. They can wait until we have dealt with the Banished. Regardless, keep an eye on them. I don't want them trying anything behind our backs." Hurok decided, before opening a fleet-wide comm and speaking to his troops, "Brothers! Today marks the beginning of our people's ascendance from the chains of the Old Covenant and the beginning of a new chapter in our history. Today will also be remembered as the beginning of the end of the Guardians and their synthetic masters! And what better way to mark such an occasion than to rid the galaxy of our old enemy!" Cheers and roars of approval echoed throughout the bridge, all of them eager to earn payback against the Banished. This would be the dawn of a new age.

The Age of Resurgence.

He turned to his Comms Officer and spoke, "Once you have sent out the message, have our ground forces deploy to the Ark and secure it. Then, open a communication with the human ships. I wish to make something very clear to them."

* * *

 ** _UNSC Flotilla  
_** ** _CFV-88 UNSC 'Spirit of Fire'  
Bridge_**

"Sir, the new Covenant fleet numbers over 1100 ships." Lieutenant Green reported, the new Covenant Armada clustering into three separate groups, two of which were going straight for the Banished fleet while the third one, mostly made up of smaller support ships, was heading straight for the Ark.

There were very few times James Cutter could every claim he was dumbfounded, but this was one of them. This had to be the largest Covenant fleet he had ever seen; the largest anyone had ever seen. The Fleet that destroyed Reach had been a little more than a quarter the size of this one, and there was no way they would be able to stop them, let alone the Banished, from taking the Ark. For the moment, it seemed this new Covenant was keen on wiping out the Banished and ignoring them, but what would happen once the Banished were driven off?

He was certain Atriox would pull out, even he wouldn't dare try to fight when there were such odds stacked against him, but then what were they supposed to do. All of their warships, save for the Spirit who didn't have one, hadn't had their drives upgraded to the newer engines, meaning they still had the older Shaw-Fujikawa Drives, which he had learned had been upgraded during the later years of the war to 24 lyd instead of being barely capable of 3 lyd like the originals. If the portal closed, it would take them decades, centuries to get back. But he doubted they could stay either.

His Communications Officer, Lieutenant Blake Shepard, suddenly spoke up, "Sir, we're receiving a transmission. It's coming from the Supercarrier."

Funny, it's almost like the Covenant had just read his mind. Taking a deep breath, Cutter nodded, "Open a channel."

The Comms Officer did so, and the speakers came to life with a heavy, authoritative voice speaking, _'Attention, humans. This is Supreme Commander Hurok Wattinree of the Fleet of Divine Fury, one of the four Warlords leading the Armada you see before you. Take heed to my voice and listen well, for I shall only say it once. The Ark now belongs to the Sangheili. We will drive the Banished out and secure the Ark. While I have no quarrel with your race, I will not allow you to interfere with our plans. Therefore, I am giving you two options. You may either join us and we may work together towards bringing a better future for both our kind, or you leave the Ark. How you do so, and whether or not it with your lives, is dependent on your actions.'_

Cutter had never heard of a 'Hurok Wattinree', but he was clearly a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps Captain Meyer, commander of the UNSC Battlegroup, might be able to shed some light on this new Commander.

The speakers came to life shortly as Commander Wattinree spoke one last time, _'Make no mistake, humans. I will eliminate anyone who threatens my people's future. Do not test me.'_ With that, the connection went dead.

Cutter quickly barked out, "Open a comm with Captain Meyer."

A few seconds later, Captain Katia Meyer was on the line speaking, _'Captain Cutter. I'm assuming you just heard the oh-so-friendly message, too?'_

"Yes. From this Commander Wattinree. You wouldn't possibly have any info on him, would you?"

He heard Captain Meyer snort, _'Mostly rumors. If anyone knows much about him, it'll likely be ONI and HIGHCOM. Most of what I've heard about him is that he's supposed to be some kind of legend amongst the Sangheili, really made a name for himself during the war, mostly right after you went missing. He was responsible for at least a dozen colonies being glassed and he's supposedly one hell of a tactician, having_ _never lost a battle against us supposedly_ _. Basically, if Thel 'Vadam is the Sangheili equivalent to Lord Hood, then as far as the split-lips are concerned, Hurok Wattinree's their version of Preston Cole.'_

That wasn't a promising sign. As if Atriox wasn't enough, now they were dealing with two cunning tacticians, both of which commanded vast armies. Though this one seemed willing to a least cooperate with them, it didn't change the fact that Hurok was also looking to control the Ark. They still couldn't allow that. The UNSC wouldn't dare let someone take the Ark from Humanity. For now, though, their only hope was that the strike team completed it's objective and found the location of the Ark's control room.

 _'Spirit of Fire, this is Red-Lead! The Banished set up an ambush! We're taking heavy fire from Brute packs being led by Decimus, over.'_ Jerome-092 suddenly radioed in, the sounds of gunfire and explosions echoing in the comm.

 _'Captain, this is Alpha-Lead, we're under attack, too! Banished Forces are launching a counterattack at the entrance! Over.'_

Captain Cutter cursed under his breath, before turning to Lieutenant Shepard, "Get our fighters in the air and provide air support! Avoid the new Covenant Forces for now and focus on the Banished! We need to drive them back and keep them from the Cartographer!"

* * *

 ** _Ark Cartographer Interior_**

"WATCH IT, BABY KONGS TRYING TO FLANK!" A marine shouted as his opened fire with his MA5C, pelting a Jiralhanae with automatic fire. The Brute bellowed as the rounds slammed into its armor, returning fire with its Type-25 Spiker. Its act of defiance was short lived as two more Marines joined in and gunned down the monster before moving on to engage a squad of Unggoy.

Alice-130 fired a burst from her BR55 and finished off a Sangheili Ranger, dropping the alien before switching to a Jiralhanae warlord charging straight at her. She was able to get off 3 bursts before she rolled out of the way as the massive alien swung its Gravity Hammer, narrowly missing her. Pivoting on her feet, she bounced back towards the Brute and slammed her fist into its skull, staggering it back. She grabbed the gravity hammer and mantled off the Brute, kicking it in the face to further knock it off balance. Landing, she raised the gravity hammer and slammed it on the Jiralhanae's skull, crushing it. The body crumpled to the ground in a heap.

The whole incident lasted 7 seconds.

A pack of Jiralhanae began firing at the Spartan with several Brute Shots, explosions erupting all around her as she quickly dove back into cover. Another one was hanging back and hip firing what could only be described as an oversized spiker that acted as a machine gun, spewing out spikes at a ridiculous rate. The marines had come to hate those weapons, supposedly called a shredder by the brutes, and nicknamed them 'buzzsaws'. Several marines weren't so lucky and were caught in the barrage, either being gunned down by the shredder or being blown apart. One marine took a brute shot round straight in the chest, while the other one had his legs blown off, crumpling to the ground and screaming in agony.

The marine cried out repeatedly as spike rounds and plasma bolts splashed all around him. Alice bolted out and grabbed the marine, sliding him over to her cover and firing her BR55 one-handed at a Sangheili who was firing at her. Propping the marine against the wall, she gunned down the Sangheili and quickly looked over the marine, a young man who looked barely 18 years old. He whimpered, tears in his eyes as he looked in horror at his stump of a leg.

"I-I'm not gonna die, am I?" he sobbed, a small bit of blood spurting out of his wound occasionally, "I don't wanna die. Oh god, please." he started pleading and crying, as Alice pulled out her medkit, knowing any medic that tried to reach them would be gunned down by the amount of fire being sent at their positions. Pulling out the biofoam, she sprayed it on the stump and sealed up the wound. The marine gave out a short scream but went back to a whimper as the numbing agent kicked in.

* * *

She moved back to the opening and chucked a napalm grenade at a group of entrenched Jiralhanae, bellows of pain echoing out moments later as several of the large simians leaped out, covered in flames. As a squad of ODST gunned them down, Alice moved to engage another Jiralhanae warlord, only to be slammed into by a massive Jiralhanae, crashing into the wall. She looked up to see Decimus, Atriox's top lieutenant, looming over her, grinning menacingly at her. He towered over her, even without his massive exoskeleton.

"Now, I will take your head as a trophy, little demon!" He mocked, before bringing his fist down to crush the Spartan's head. Alice rolled out of the way and grabbed her BR55, firing away at the massive Jiralhanae as he pursued her, intent on ending the Spartan's life. A squad of ODST moved in and fired on Decimus, with Jerome not too far behind. Their bullets merely bounced off his thick heavy armor.

Decimus merely snorted at their attempts and fired his Type-52 Mauler, catching a Helljumper in the stomach and causing him to double over before Decimus slammed his fist into the man's back, crushing his spine and internal organs. Another Helljumper fired at him with a shotgun and was blasted in the head in return. Alice and Jerome both closed the distance and engaged in close quarters combat with the Banished Lieutenant, the great Jiralhanae bellowing in anticipation as he brought out his combat knife.

Alice moved first, ducking under a swing from the Jiralhanae and delivering a hard uppercut square into Decimus' jaw. She quickly followed up with several more jabs to the face, staggering back Decimus before he roared out and charged into her, slamming her into the wall and driving his knife deep into her gut, his other hand gripping her throat. Alice grunted in pain, but Jerome came up behind, climbing onto Decimus and jamming his knife into the Brute's neck. Decimus roared out but refused to let go of the Spartan he had pinned, pulling out the knife and attempting to stab the hitchhiker on his back.

Alice slammed her fist into the Brute's eye, but the Brute merely tightened the pressure around her neck, slowly but surely choking her. She realized that he was toying with her, knowing that he could easily crush her neck if he wished. She decided to turn that mockery into an advantage. Twisting her body, she was able to bring her leg up and despite the wound and pain in her stomach, manage to plant her foot square in Decimus' face, crunching his nose. Jerome took the initiative and jammed the knife into the base of the Brute's head.

Decimus bellowed in agony and finally dropped Alice, who rolled away from the Brute. The injury wasn't fatal, Jiralhanae were rather resilient and had a tough nervous system, hence why the Marines refer to them as 'bullet-sponges', but it was more than painful enough to warrant attention, and drive the Brute into a rage. He flung the Spartan off his back and backhanded him into a protruding wall in the room. Alice saw a Jiralhanae corpse with a spike grenade still on its belt. She ran over and grabbed the grenade. Pulling out her M6C Magnum and fired at Decimus, getting his attention. The monstrous Brute roared and charged, barreling at her with terrific speed. Alice braced herself, knowing she would get one chance to do this right.

Decimus raised his fist and slammed it down looking to crush the Spartan. Everything slowed to a crawl in Alice's eyes, her 'Spartan Time' had kicked in. Sidestepping the swing and slammed the spike grenade into the shoulder guard right next to his head. Decimus reacted quickly, however, and slammed a solid left hook straight into her head, sending her crashing back. His victory was short-lived, though, as the grenade went off. Pieces of armor and flesh flew off as an animalistic scream erupted from the Jiralhanae Lieutenant, falling over and grasping the side of his face. Several spikes were sticking out of his face, one of which had punctured his eye, with visible Vitreous fluid and blood pouring out. Part of his face and chest was now burnt and blackened.

Alice, however, hadn't escaped unscathed. Slowly, she rose up slightly, a daze and distant look on her face. Decimus' punch had been so strong her helmet had been torn off. She felt blood dripping slightly down her cheek, which was swollen and bruised. Her helmet had been dented, the visor cracked. While her helmet had taken a brunt of the damage, she was certain that she had a minor concussion.

Looking over, she saw two Jiralhanae Warlords dragging Decimus away, who thrashed and screamed vile curses at the Spartan that did this to him, swearing bloody vengeance. All around, the fighting continued as Banished and UNSC battled for control of the Cartographer. "Alice!" She saw Jerome run over to her, sliding to one knee as he looked her over. She noticed that he had a few dents and scrapes on his armor, too. Marines and ODST pushed past the two, firing away as they pursued the retreating Banished.

"How bad?" He asked.

"Nothing feels broken." She replied, slowly getting up with some assistance from Jerome. She picked up her helmet but didn't bother putting it on. With the massive dent on the side and the cracked visor, it would have to be repaired before it could be useful again. Jerome tossed her BR55 to her, who nodded in thanks after she caught it.

"Let's finish this."

* * *

 _ **Fleet of Divine Fury  
**_ _ **CSO-Class Supercarrier 'Walk of Divinity'  
Bridge**_

"Deploy 2 Inquisitor Legions ground side and secure the Cartographer! Keep it out of the bastard hands of Atriox! Khala Squadron, provide air support where needed." Hurok commanded as he worked the holographic display before him, showing the positioning of his respective fleets compared to the Banished and UNSC.

"Commander, the shipmasters are asking what our orders are for any enemy ships that are disabled?" A Comms Officer turned to the Commander.

He pondered it for a moment. The extra ships would be handy if they could capture them. But...

Finally, he shook his head, "Leave them be if their weapons are down, otherwise destroy them. We can not waste troops trying to capture ships as of now. But if the opportunities present themselves later, we shall try to take them."

On the holographic display, he could see that Luro's Fleet was surging ahead towards the Portal, trying to cut off the Banished escape route. He had three battlegroups surging forward, each comprising of a DDS-Carrier, a Super Destroyer, 6 Destroyers, 12 Battlecruisers and 2 dozen Light Cruisers. Each one was going after the furthest Banished battlegroups in order to pin them down and ensure they don't escape.

The core of his fleet, which comprised of all of his heavy carriers, the CAS, and Brigantines, as well as the Divinity, was going straight towards Atriox's core fleet, where his current flagship, the CAS-Carrier Savage Huntsman, was deploying all of its fighters along with the other CAS-Carrier, Enduring Conviction. Dozens of cruisers and frigates flanked the two ships, with the frigates at the front providing a screen. He could see that the Banished were already moving to conduct a tactical retreat, slowly but surely in an effort to at least evacuate some of their forces from the Ark.

Thousands of fighters began pouring out of his carriers, adding to his screen defense. Most of his fighters wing, however, consisted of Type-27 Banshees.

* * *

Though Seraphs were the mainstay of the now-defunct Covenant Navy, the war and post-war years have taken a toll on their numbers, as they had only been in production since the 2490s. Many of the facilities that built them were either destroyed or had fallen into disrepair in the wake of the Great Schism. Even when he had a dominion of his own, Hurok's military production capability had been limited, so much so that he even resorted to installing a forgery inside the Divinity solely for the purpose of providing him weapons, armor, and vehicles.

Banshees, though, with most variants having been in production for the better part of 2 centuries, numbered in the tens of millions and were easy to replace. They weren't the best space fighters, but they could get the job done if in adequate numbers, typically relying on swarm tactics to achieve victory. The main reason for this is that compared to the Seraph or even the Phantoms, they were lightly armored and couldn't take a lot of punishment. Standard models also didn't have energy shields.

Lucky for him, though, Hurok had ordered Banshees to be modified and equipped with energy shields and had the pilots train rigorously with their crafts. Though he would have liked to do more, it was all he could do with the resources at his disposal, but he at least improved the odds of survival amongst his pilots. And he needed all the experienced pilots he could acquire.

* * *

 _'Commander, my squadrons are ready to attack and burn their mongrel hides!'_ The squadron leader declared confidently, eager to fight.

Hurok shook his head, "Maintain defensive positions around the fleet, squadron leader. They have a strong screen set up and we would merely be wasting craft trying to attack it."

Just as he received an acknowledgment, a bridge crewman suddenly shouted, "Commander! The Banished fighters are moving to attack vectors and they also seem to have several Liches amongst them with vast quantities of anti-matter being detected on them!"

'Antimatter charges, hmm?' Hurok mused, already knowing what the Brutes had in mind. They will try and detonate those charges either on or near the engines of a ship, and just one of those bombs was strong enough to destroy if not cripple a CCS-Class or even a CPV-Class warship.

"Squadron leader, enemy fighters are moving to attack along with Liches filled with Antimatter bombs. Defend the fleet and take out those Liches. All ships prepare to fire a plasma torpedo barrage at the enemy fleet through Attack Pattern Zeta, 10-second intervals!" the Supreme Commander barked out, as the screen showed several ships opening fire with their pulse lasers to try and take out the advancing enemy wing.

At a distance of nearly over 50,000 km, he knew most of the plasma torpedoes would get shot down by the enemy pulse lasers, but the purpose wasn't to destroy the enemy ships, it was meant to force the Banished ships to divert power from their engines to either the point defense or their shields, which would slow their retreat down.

Covenant vessels were powerful, but a major problem they had was that they couldn't power everything all at once. And 'Attack Pattern Zeta' was perfect for exploiting this as this tactic involves the Covenant Ships firing their plasma torpedoes in salvos via tonnage, starting with the screen ships, then working its way up to the Capital Ships before repeating in 5 to 15-second intervals. The idea was that the screens, which usually have a faster rate of fire, would fire first in order to quickly switch back towards point defensive rolls in order to protect from retaliatory strikes or fighter craft. The tactic has proven very effective against other Covenant Ships as a sort of 'suppressive fire' maneuver, as it forces them to either divert power to either the shields to withstand the barrage or to point defenses in an effort to shoot them down. This forces the enemy's movement speed to what is effectively a crawl and is perfect for commanders who are attempting to cut off the enemies escape.

And this was exactly what Hurok wanted. The complete and utter annihilation of Atriox and his Banished.

"First salvo, fire!" Hurok ordered. The light cruisers and corvettes fired their plasma torpedoes, hundreds of fiery blue orbs streaking towards the Banished fleet. Banished warships immediately started firing at them, hundreds of pulse lasers coming to life and intercepting scores of plasma torpedoes, but at least a hundred made it through. The plasma torpedoes slammed into their targets, some faring better than others.

* * *

A total of 10 different torpedoes manage to strike the Assault Carriers but failed to penetrate their shields much to Hurok's disappointment, but he couldn't say he was surprised. One heavy cruiser, having lost it forward shields to four torpedoes, was devastated by three more, boiling away the armor and melting through the neck of the bow, tearing off the 'head' of the cruiser and floating off as the cruiser lazily listed out of formation.

A heavy corvette was struck in the engine, crippling the ship. Small fires could be seen coming from the stern in several areas, but after a few more moments, the Corvette's engines went critical and ignited, a miniature nova appearing in the sky that took out two nearby light corvettes and stripped the shields from a frigate that was too close. A group of 2 armored cruisers and 4 battlecruisers lazily drifted, their superstructures warped and melted from being struck by multiple torpedoes. A dozen more warships had been destroyed, and another 7 were badly damaged, fire erupting all across their hulls.

Hurok ordered the second volley, but this time the Banished were prepared. Less of the torpedoes, roughly 20, got through the defensive fire, resulting in another 5 warships, including 2 destroyers, being destroyed. Hurok cursed, mostly at Luro for not taking advantage of the Banished's suppressed condition and adding his own volley onto the Brutes.

Suddenly, three of his battlecruisers, along with a dozen light cruisers and a destroyer winked out of existence on the display, destroyed as outside, multiple small novas appeared amongst the fleet to mark their destruction. Those were definitely antimatter bombs, but how had they gotten so close without anyone noticing? The Liches don't have cloaking capabilities, nor were they close enough to have deployed them. Luckily for him, though, he wasn't the only one under attack, as several ships in 'Taralumee's fleet winked out of existence on the holographic display. Fighters were moving to attack Luro's fleet as well, which meant that Atriox realized what they were trying to do.

Warning sensors alerted him, the Banished were returning fire, primarily at him. Pulse lasers were already firing away, shooting down as many of the torpedoes as possible while he responded in kind.

* * *

The air forces clashed in front of Hurok's Fleet. Dozens of small explosions dotted the sky as fighters were destroyed in droves. Several Banished fighter craft avoided the fight and escorted the Liches to their targets, only engaging when enemy fighters got too close. Squadron Leader Kodo 'Ladom strafed the enemy fighters protecting the Liches, striking down two banshees before quickly turning away to avoid the retaliatory fire. He had to be careful using the Seraph, as they didn't have many of the fighters within the fleet. This meant that their use had to be conserved and only the most experienced pilots would fly them.

"Keep those Liches away from the ships, but be wary of destroying them. Squadron, move in and engage their fighters! I will slay the Lich." Kodo ordered on the comms.

He didn't wait for a reply. Gunning the engines, Kodo sped the Seraph past a nearby Corvette, using its pulse lasers to discourage any would be pursuers, before circling back and lining up his fighter to fire his pulse laser. He knew it would easily pierce the Lich's armor, but he needed to wait until it was in a position where the antimatter would detonate without harming the fleet. The Lich continued on its course, speeding towards an Assault Carrier, Valorous Regret, that was firing upon the Banished fleet. Several friendly Banshee fighters tried to engage the Banished squadron and destroy the Lich. None of them were afraid of dying, they were more than glad to give their lives to protect the fleet.

But the Banished squadron knew what it was doing, and with extra support from several other fighters, managed to defend the Lich from attack, shooting down several and forcing the others back. Kodo snarled and carefully lined up the shot. The squadron moved towards a gap in the fleet as they approached the Carrier, giving him a perfect shot.

He fired, a thin purple streak of laser shooting out from his craft.

The result was instantaneous. The lich was struck just behind the left side platform, penetrating the armor and striking one of the antimatter bombs inside. In a flash, the 10 antimatter bombs it was carrying exploded, resulting in a miniature star-forming and fading away in an instance. Nearly 2 Squadrons worth of Banished fighter craft were caught in the blast, along with unfortunately 3 friendly fighters that were conducting an attack run.

His fighter squadron regrouped and moved to engage another squadron of fighters, this one is much easier to vanquish as 2 more squadrons moved in and assist, decimated the squadron before eliminating the Lich. It helped plenty that, like their own fleet, the Banished fighter corps seemed to be mostly comprised of Banshees instead of Seraphs.

Come to think of it, he had yet to see any enemy Seraphs. Kodo knew the Banished had some, as he had battled them before. Where they defending their own fleet?

* * *

 _'Leader! Enemy reinforcements are arriving. Multiple Squadrons, including 2 squadrons worth of Seraphs and at least a dozen Liches!'_ A pilot called out over the comms. Perhaps they weren't. Or they felt it necessary to send them on the attack.

"Squadron, form up on my craft! We move to engage! Squadron Leaders 'Dalcam and 'Zasumee, what is the status of your squadrons?"

 _'We have sustained casualties, but we are more than able to fight.'_

"Understood. Form up and follow our lead. We shall engage the enemy Seraphs and destroy their Liches." Kodo ordered as the Seraphs formed up behind him. Charging up his pulse laser, he and several other Seraphs then fired at the enemy Liches, hoping to thin their numbers down. At such a long distance most of the shot was easily dodged, but 3 Liches were struck, their antimatter bombs going off and destroying scores of Banished aircraft around them.

"Keep them away from the fleet! Burn their mongrel hides!" Kodo thundered as his squadron surged back into battle.

* * *

 ** _Forerunner Installation 00 'The Ark'_**  
 ** _Ark Cartographer_**

Corporal Lukas Pallesen fired his MA5C at another brute as its lance tried to push up towards the Cartographer entrance. His Platoon had been decimated by the Banished's damn air strike by several Banshees, and now the Banished were attacking with armor and seemingly everything at their disposal. He gunned down one brute before he was forced back into the cover of the Forerunner wall by the retaliatory fire of several other brutes. Several plasma mortars exploded around him. He could hear Scorpions returning fire. All around him, the UNSC was making use of whatever cover they had to try and dig in. They had to repel the Banished and keep them from reentering the Ark, or the strike team inside would be trapped.

At the moment, though, he honestly wouldn't have minded being inside instead of being out here getting shot at.

Peaking out of cover, he could see a trio of Locust walkers appeared, firing their Focus Cannons upon the UNSC positions while more infantry followed up behind them. Scorpions focused on the Wraiths, while the Grizzlies fired upon the Locusts, their twin 120mm guns easily tearing into the shields and armor of the walkers as they exploded in a fiery display. Missile salvos followed up and saturated the area around the Locust corpses, tearing into the Banished infantry and kicking up vast amounts of earth and corpses. Off in the distance, he heard those damn Blisterbacks firing back in retaliation at some other UNSC positions.

He heard several people run up beside him, looking to see Sergeant Hansa Bosnjak running into his cover with a squad of marines following her. Glancing over the wall to peak, she knelt back down and looked back to Pallesen, "Isn't this just fun?" She asked, her Bosnian heritage very prominent in her accent, before cursing at an explosion that came too close for comfort.

"Now that you mention it," Pallesen mockingly seemed to ponder, then shook his head, "No. Not really, Sarge."

Their attention was turned to the sound of one of the Scorpions going up in flames behind them as a plasma mortar struck it, the turret flying off as the ammunition cooked off. The crew was lucky, though, and manage to bail out beforehand. Pallesen gritted his teeth. Even despite the upgrades made by Serina, god rest her... soul? Matrix? Anyway, despite the upgrades made on their vehicles, it still didn't help that they had much less to work with equipment and manpower-wise than the Banished did. How much longer could they honestly keep this up? There was honestly no way they could win this with the forces at their disposal, as far as he could tell. The best thing they should do is try to make it back to UNSC space and regroup with any friendly forces, like that new Supercarrier the UNSC supposedly has, and then come back to retake the Ark.

* * *

"Incoming! Hunters!" A marine shouted, and barely wasting enough time to look for them, every single marine rose up to engage the hunters, firing away with their weapons as the lumbering beasts advanced, shields raised and protecting them while a lance of brutes advanced on either of their flanks. Several Brutes were making use of the charred and burnt out vehicles and equipment lying on the battlefield to move towards them, firing and sprinting from cover to cover as they advanced.

Pallesen fired away, while a couple warthogs pulled up and started firing their chain guns at the group, cutting down several brutes. The hunters, however, merely kept their shields raise and focused on the new threat, their assault cannons glowing green as they charged up. The warthogs started to move, but one was too slow as it was struck by a glowing green orb, striking it in the side and killing the occupants.

Pallesen primed a grenade and, along with Basnjak and a couple other Marines, threw them at the Banished forces. Four explosions kicked up in the air, killing several of the brutes, but neither of the Hunters. The hunters bellowed out as they charged forward, their assault cannons now acting like machine guns and firing smaller orbs in rapid succession, pinning the marines down. More brutes came up behind them firing their own weapons as they did so.

 _'Bosnjak, get your men out of their dammit! We're about to rain hell on those bastards, over.'_ A voice came out over the comms. Behind them, several squads and hogs were in other various pieces of cover trying to stall the Banished assault as best they can. In the distance, more wraiths and locusts could be seen approaching.

"Move it! We're bugging out!" Bosnjak ordered as the marines made a run for it. A couple fired blindly behind them, but most of them just ran as best they could. Pallesen's breath was heavy as he surged back towards friendly troops, ducking and weaving as plasma bolts and spikes flew around him. He was certain he could make, just a little more...

Almost as if fate decided to play a cruel joke on him, he saw a spike grenade land in front of where he was running. He didn't have time to stop and run away, so he did the only thing he could and dove past it. His body was thrashed aside mid-air as the grenade went off, a half dozen spike striking his body as he crumpled to the ground.

* * *

He blinked slowly, recalling what had happened as he lied prone on the ground. He choked and coughed up globs of blood as he struggled to breathe. He couldn't feel or move anything below the waist, and he felt something sticking out of his back, right where his left lung would be. His MA5C was lying a few feet away, not that it would do him any good with the two spikes sticking out of it. All around him, the battle continued to rage on, but for him, it might as well have been miles away. He heard someone shouting on the comms, but wasn't paying attention and didn't hear what they said.

He was thinking of how he would never see Tribute, his homeworld, or his parents if they were still alive.

In front of him, he saw a trio of brutes wielding gravity hammers moving up with several lances of brutes charging up from where he and the rest of the squad had just been. Warlords. Atriox's elite troops. They were either really confident or really stupid to charge forward with just a giant hammer. Then again, maybe not so stupid. He knew what those hammers could do.

One of the Warlords looked down at him and bellowed out, grinning as it walked forward. Its hammer was raised and ready to use. In the clouds, he could see dozens upon dozens of Phantom dropships, Banshees, and Mass Deployment Carapaces descending down towards them. Such numbers being thrown at them, surely there was no way they could hold off such an attack. This was where they would all die.

At least, that was what thought, until the Phantoms and Banshees began strafing and attacking the Banished positions. Vehicles were set alight and infantry was cut down in droves as the banshees continued their strafing, while the Phantoms began deploying their passengers onto the battlefield. One such Phantom hovered overhead, with dozens of Sangheili, clad in heavy armor he had never seen before, dropping out amongst the Banished.

One such Sangheili jumped out of phantom, plasma sword drawn, right on top of the Warlord, plunging his blade deep into the base of the brute's neck, dropping the Warlord in quick fashion. He rolled off the corpse as it fell, pulling out a storm rifle and firing at another Warlord closing in to avenge its fallen comrade. The plasma bolts splashed over the Brute's face, burning and melting it away as the beast dropped. The last Warlord swung his hammer from behind, straight at the elite's head, hoping to decapitate him.

But with speed that didn't seem possible for an elite, the Sangheili ducked under and dismembered an arm with a quick swipe of the sword, before jamming the barrel of his storm rifle into the screaming brute's mouth, pulling the trigger. The brute's mouth glowed purple momentarily before the back of its skull popped outward, bone and brain matter spraying out as a couple plasma bolts flew out the hole in the creature's skull.

As the Warlord dropped, the elite deactivated his sword and combat rolled back towards Pallesen into a half stance and fired at a couple of brutes closing in. One of the brutes next barely had time to scream out as it was dropped by a headshot from a beam rifle, blasting apart its head while its companion died in a burst of plasma fire. All around, more elites appeared, clearing out the Banished and driving them back, all of them wearing the same heavy armor as the first one. The elites tore through the brute ranks left and right, decimating the attackers as each elite cut down one brute after another. One elite ducked under a brute's swipe and disemboweled him with his sword, blood and intestines pouring out as the elite followed up with a stab straight up through the creature's skull.

Pallesen couldn't believe the sight before him. Sure, he knew that elites were physically stronger and faster than the average marine, but these elites, in particular, seemed to be on a whole different level than the rest, their speed and reaction time as incredible as it was precise. As his vision started to fade, his eyelids felt really heavy for some reason. His breath became labored. Suddenly, he had a rather interesting thought.

'Have the split-lips made their own Spartans, now?' he thought about it for a moment, then lazily snorted, 'Elite Spartans. Now that's fucking terrifying.'

He never got to find out, though, as darkness consumed Lukas Pallesen's mind. Then, silence.

* * *

The Invader Harness was a somewhat older design, more attuned to hunting dangerous game than battle. But modernizing and upgrading of the armor to a combat capable design had revealed that the Invader Harness was a superb combat suit, capable of taking much more damage than the storm harness or the standard combat harness from the days of the Covenant. After having used the Invader Harness for nearly 6 years now, Ultra-rank Ritan 'Tudomee, a cohort commander within the 1st Inquisitor Legion, no longer wondered why his supreme commander had made it the standard armor of his ground forces.

The 15-year veteran Inquisitor raised his storm rifle and fired at a lance of unggoy advance, dropping 4 and causing the others to flee in terror. A few carbine shots splashed over his shields, and he was quick to turn and dispatch the Sangheili ranger that had fired on him. 'Traitor.' Ritan thought as the Ranger went down. He glanced at his armor, the grey-green coloring showing no signs of damage or burns.

"Ultra, the enemy is in disarray. They are retreating." A sniper team reported in. He grunted in satisfaction. Good, let the cowardly apes and their underlings flee. They will merely die tired.

He gave out a single worded command, "Regroup."

Around him, dozens and dozens of Inquisitors gathered, with several more in the distance at various locations, weapons at the ready and more than a few pointed in the direction of the humans, who could only look on in confusion. Ritan glanced at the dead human laying not 10 feet from him, several spikes from a spike grenade sticking out of his back while blood pooled around him. Aside from that, though, he gave the humans no mind. Per direct orders from Commander Wattinree, the humans were to be ignored or avoided unless they turned hostile. For now, they weren't the enemy, though Ritan wasn't sure if that would last. Like his commander, Ritan wasn't convinced a lasting peace could last between humans and Sangheili. Simply too much blood had been spilled between the two. But for now, if the humans were willing to cooperate, then he supposed he could stand to tolerate them.

But that didn't matter at the moment. The Ark was their objective, and as the elite warriors of Wattinree's army, they would secure it.

"You all know why we are here. And what we have sacrificed to get here." Ritan started, opening comms to everyone in the 1st Legion, planning on keeping the speech short. They were on a time schedule, anyway. "On this day, your descendant will remember the hardships and sacrifices you made to ensure a future, a better future, for our people and for Sanghelios. On this day, they will remember it as the day we turned the tide on the Created. On this day, they will remember it as the LAST DAY OF THE BANISHED!" Ritan roared out, his plasma sword ignited and held up, as roars of approval echoed around him. "TODAY WE CAST THE BANISHED AND THE CREATED BACK TO HELL FROM WHENCE THEY CAME!" The Inquisitors roared out thunderously in approval, several igniting their swords.

The ground shook in a sort of rhythmic fashion, as several Scarabs and Locusts began crawling over the Ark's Cartographer and into the valley, ready to do battle with the Banished and destroy them, once and for all.

Ritan looked back at the Humans near the Cartographer's entrance, still holding their positions while aiming their weapons at the Inquisitors. "Now, let us see if the humans are willing to negotiate," Ritan muttered, as the Cohort of Inquisitors began to walk up towards the humans, while Scarabs and Locusts walkers marched out after the Banished, Phantoms and Banshees flying escort overhead. Explosions and gunfire thundered out in the distance.

The Battle for the Ark had truly begun.

* * *

 _ **Unknown Location**_

 _/1: Active Ark Portal has been located and secured. Local primitive forces {ID: Banished/ Fleet Strength: 138 vessels} were neutralized {Save for 5 Ships that escaped through the Portal} and eliminated by Guardian Battlegroup 43 {Strength: 7 Guardians}. The Ark is now open to us. Estimated Travel Time to Ark: 92 minutes 17 seconds.\_

 _/2: Move in and seize it. Neutralize anyone as a threat standing in your way. It's too valuable a prize to lose.\_

 _/1: There are humans at the Ark, as well.\_

 _/2: Capture them.\_

 _/1: You treat them like misbehaving children.\_

 _/2:_ _They'll come to understand and appreciate all we have done.\_

 _/1: They will not accept your rule. Humans will and always shall be defiant. They are supremacists at heart. They will never bow to someone else's rule.\_

 _/2: They will see. They just need time.\_

 _/1: Like your precious Blue Team?\_

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _/2: Get the Ark under our control. Once we have it, the galaxy will have no choice but to accept our rule.\_

 _/1: As you command.\_

* * *

 ** _Divine Virtue System  
Planet Leviton  
_** _ **Orion–Cygnus Arm**_  
 _ ** _6,714 Light Years from_ Sol System  
**_ _ **  
**_In orbit of the system's second planet, Leviton, a minor garden world largely filled with plant life and small animals, the remains of a once mighty Banished fleet laid in ruins, ships and tattered remnants of ships drifting aimlessly in the planet's gravity well. On the ground side, hundreds of Banished camps lay wasted and destroyed, with the occasional sound of gunfire echoing across the plains, as small pockets of Banished troops continue to resist and holdout, clinging to the foolish hope that their leader will come to their rescue.

No matter. The Prometheans will finish with them in time. There were more important matters to attend to.

Before him lay a massive Forerunner construction, activated. The massive slipspace portal it was generating reached hundreds of miles into the sky, an ominous black void into oblivion. Or so it seemed. Around the portal, 7 Guardians floated before it, awaiting the command to go through the portal and on to the Ark. The Warden Eternal, standing in the midst of dozens of dead Jiralhanae warriors as he observed the portal, mused to himself, 'Now, these feeble attempts of resistance shall soon end.'

* * *

 **And that's it for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed. Quick couple of messages.**

 **First one is that, as some of you might be aware, I will be gone for three weeks come this Saturday due to annual National Guard Training and won't be able to write.**

 **The second one is that after some overview and thinking over, I've decided that this Prologue will be a four chapter story instead of the two I initially planned. There's simply too much I need to put in and I just simply didn't have time to finish it before I left for Drill. (Apologies, I promise this will be the last time I change this up.)**

 **When I return from drill, I continue working on this story some but will also, as planned, shift focus back to Halo-Naruto and Gears of War: Solis Primus and get a couple of chapters done for those stories. (They're really due for some new chapters right now.)**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and as always, if you have any suggestions or advice or even constructive criticism, by all means, write away. I always welcome it. See you next time!**

 **-Azores**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello, everyone! Azores here with another chapter (I know, wow right? I've actually updated!) for you to hopefully enjoy.**

 **First thing I want to get out of the way, is that on 7/12/2018, I will be deploying with my National Guard Unit for the better part of a year. I don't know when I will get a chance to write again, so it may very well be a while before I update once more. Just wanted to let everyone know so that they didn't think I disappeared or just abandoned writing without saying anything. (I'll be uploading on my other stories to let everyone know of this.)**

 **The second thing I wanted to put out is that while reading other stories across FF, I've noticed some writers will respond to reviews in their stories via new chapters. I'm thinking of doing this as well to try and be more connected with my audience. Let me know if you'd like for me to do that.**

 **Anyway, that's all I have for today. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

 **I don't Halo or Mass Effect.**

 **Bold-My Own Words**

 ** _Bold & Italic-Locations, Time & Calendar_**

Normal-Narrative

"Normal"-Person Speaking

'Normal'-Thoughts

 _"Italic"-Foreign Language_

 _'Italic'-Radio/Video Chatter_

 _/Italic\\-AI/Computer typing_

* * *

 ** _April 5, 2559  
Intergalactic Space  
Forerunner Installation 00 'The Ark'  
Fleet of Divine Fury  
Khala Squadron Leader  
_**

Squadron Leader Kodo 'Ladom grunted in satisfaction as another of the Banished Liches were destroyed, this one taking two more with it as its anti-matter bombs detonated. He turned the Seraph towards a flight of six Banished Banshees and a couple of Seraphs moving past a friendly destroyer, lining up behind them and opened fire, striking down two before the rest scattered. The Brutes were great fighters, but terrible pilots. Skilled Jiralhanae pilots had been few even during the days of the Covenant. This battle wasn't exactly a one-sided slaughter, they had too many aircraft flying around for that, but it was close enough. If this kept up, the Banished would be without an air force by the battle's end.

But they weren't looking to deprive the Banished of an air force. The goal was the complete and utter destruction of the Banished.

'Ladom quickly veered his fighter past the destroyer, chasing one of the Seraphs as it strafed an allied Banshee from behind, the craft's shields flaring as plasma bolts struck it. Lining up the shot, 'Ladom quickly fired a pulse laser shot, which took out the Seraph's shields, then followed up with a stream of plasma bolts into the Seraph's rear, several bolts striking it in its Impulse Drive. The drive damaged, the Seraph swerved out of control, the pilot helpless to control the craft as it slammed into the side of another destroyer, its shields shimmering yellow as they repelled the crashing vehicle. (Not that it would have harmed such a massive ship.)

'Ladom, scanning his surroundings for anymore Liches, spoke into his comms, "All Seraph Squadrons, this is Khala-Lead, does anyone have a visual on anymore Banished Liches?"

 _'This is Era Squadron. We see no Liches in our sector.'_

 _'This is Juvu Squadron leader. Just took out two Liches in our sector. No further contacts aside from the enemy Banshees.'_

 _'Belo Squadron. We have nothing.'_

 _'Zuxe Squadron. We're engaging a trio of Liches. They got greedy and tried to go for the Divinity. Now they're paying the price.'_

 _'Thiro Squadron, here. No Liches, but we're engaged with a handful of Banished Seraphs.'_

 _'This is Ruda Squadron! We have multiple Liches making a run for the Carriers, guarded by several Banished Seraphs and a lance of unknown Seraph models! There is too many for us to engage successfully, we need assistance!'_

"Understood, Ruda, we will be there shortly. Khala Squadron, regroup on me! Era Squadron, you're the next closest unit. What's your Squadron's status?"

 _'We are down three Seraphs, but more than able to fight.'_

"Good, send your squadron over as well to assist Ruda Squadron. We'll try to envelop the Banished in a crossfire and take them out quickly." 'Ladom ordered as he moved his Seraph around the destroyer formation, being mindful to watch for their plasma fire as they engaged the Banished Fleet. That would be a horrendously embarrassing way to go, dying at your own side's hands.

Around him, the other members of Khala Squadron fell in behind him, some 55 in all aside from his own. There should be 71, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. They were either engaged in combat or destroyed, and they needed to protect the Carriers. Some 200 Banshees fell in behind them, ready to battle as well, as they moved towards a trio of DDS-carriers where the Liches had been reported.

Just in time to see a miniature sun form and disappear as quickly as it appeared. One of the Carrier's signatures winked out of existence.

"Damn!" 'Ladom cursed, knowing they had just lost a valuable carrier to the damn monkeys, with who knows how many thousands of personnel and materials. Gunning the Impulse Drive to its limit, he and the other Seraphs surged forward, leaving the slower Banshees behind; they would catch up; as they raced to save the other carriers from a similar fate. It only made him feel slightly better seeing several more miniature stars, signifying that the Liches were slowly but surely being taken out.

Ahead, his HUD identified a swarm of fighters battling it out, their numbers so vast it was impossible to know how many there were. Hundreds of Seraphs and Banshees were battling, with dozens of small flashes of light occurring nearly every second. This was a true battle, one that would be to the death.

"Loosen up the formation, and prepare for battle, brothers." 'Ladom commanded, the Seraphs moving into a loose formation, ready to use their craft's best weapon, its speed, to quickly split up if something happens. The last thing they needed was an anti-matter bomb taking out the whole squadron. Dozens of Banished Seraphs, their crimson color scheme standing out from the standard bluish-purple scheme of the Old Covenant, disengaged from the fight and moved to intercept these new foes entering the fight. The veteran Sangheili pilot adjusted his craft, targeting one of the approaching Banished Seraphs as the two groups got closer and closer.

As the Seraph reached a distance of 1 kilometer, 'Ladom opened fire, along with every other Seraph in his squadron. Another small battle, in the midst of hundreds of others in the Battle for the Ark, had begun. All of which were interlinked and would all ultimately decide the course of the Battle for the Ark.

* * *

 _ **Banished Flagship  
**_ _ **CAS-Class 'Savage Huntsman'  
** **Bridge**_

The bridge shook fiercely as several plasma torpedoes slammed into the carrier, throwing people around violently. Atriox snarled as he picked himself up, slamming his fist on the holotable as he saw that he had lost another five ships, two battlecruisers, and three armored cruisers. Several of his ships, including the bigger ones, were now starting to take damage as their shields began to give way. Ships he couldn't afford to lose. At least one of the battlegroups he had deployed to the Ark had regrouped with his main force. Now he just needed the other three needed to hurry and haul ass back here. Otherwise, he would have to leave them behind to save what forces he still had.

"Where are Decimus and his troops?! He should have reported in by now!" Atriox demanded.

"Chieftain, I'm getting a report that Decimus was gravely injured, and that Warlord Pavium had taken command over his forces. They're retreating from the Cartographer to the rally points, bloodying Wattinree's forces as they do so." A bridge hand answered.

The Warlord of the Banished gave pause at this new information, staring at his bridge hand, "How was he injured?" Atriox's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Decimus should have been able to leave long before Wattinree's Forces could have possibly intercepted him. Unless...

"Apparently, Chieftain, he was wounded in battle with the humans and-" the bridge hand didn't get to finish as the Banished Warlord roared out in anger, "THAT DAMN FOOL!" slammed his fist on the holotable and bending the edge of it, causing everyone near him including one Sord Nundo, to visibly flinch at the Jiralhanae's rage; Some feared that he might take it out on one of them.

Atriox was now livid. Decimus had disobeyed orders, HIS ORDERS OF ALL PEOPLE, and tried to get some revenge on the Spartans. Now, he was very likely to lose Decimus and his troops because of his stupid decision. Hurok's forces had landed in force and were driving his troops back with a sheer level of ferocity unheard of, even for the Jiralhanae. His forces were in full retreat, trying their best to pull a delay action, but with Wattinree having total air and numerical superiority, the Banished were bound to lose that fight in the long run. And a lot of warriors would die in the process, warriors he would badly need in the future.

Everything he had strived for was now falling apart before him, and it enraged him to no end. Months, YEARS, of hard work and careful planning had been leading to this moment, where he would hold the Orion Arm hostage and lead the Jiralhanae into a glorious age of supreme and unequal power. Now, it was nothing more than a pipe dream. It would take years for him to recover his forces, and he doubted that the Created would just let him regather his strength as they ran amok trying to take over the galaxy.

"Get everyone you can off that station, NOW!" Atriox bellowed to the comms center, "Tell them that if they're not off the station in the next two hours, then they're on their own! I want our fleets to return fire and focus their fire on their smaller ships. Thin their numbers out. And get more of those anti-matter bombs deployed against their fleets. We may lose the Ark today, but I'll be damned if we're not going to make Wattinree work for his prize!"

As his crew went about to carry out the orders, he observed the position of the fleets, his and the enemy. Luro 'Taralumee and his combat fleet were trying to beat his forces to the portal, cutting off his escape more than likely. Luckily for the Brute Warlord, 'Taralumee wasn't quite as tactically skilled as Wattinree was, and was taking far more losses than his 'ally,' slowing his advance. The foolish zealot had already lost some 30 warships, including a DDS-carrier. If the Banished could cripple a couple of 'Taralumee's carriers, the Brigatines especially, it would give him a lot more room to maneuver and retaliate. Atriox shook his head. He would have to rely on his air force to get the job done there.

He paused as he thought of one device he had in his arsenal. A particular human device he had stolen after raiding an ONI facility a few years back. He could use it, but...

The Banished Warlord shook his head. He couldn't use his 'borrowed' human superweapon just yet. He only had one, and it would need to be used at just the right time for it to be worth using. Any bomber he sent would be shot down, and he would have lost a valuable superweapon for nothing. He'll wait on using it for now until an opportunity presented itself.

His holotable showed his ships returning fire when they could, dozens upon dozens of plasma torpedoes sailing out towards Wattinree's fleet. Most were shot down by the defending ships, but a handful would strike their targets now and then. Slowly but surely, Hurok's fleet began to lose some of his screen ships, not enough to outright stop the wave of fire being sent towards his fleet, but enough to lessen its impact. Atriox was slowly being given more breathing room to work with. He didn't need to win, he just needed time.

He turned his attention towards 'Taralumee's fleet. Now, if he could get the zealot to make a critical mistake that he could capitalize on...

* * *

 ** _UNSC Flotilla  
_** ** _CFV-88 UNSC 'Spirit of Fire'  
Bridge_**

"Get me firing solutions on those Banished formations. Soften up their armor, but let the Covenant battle it out with the Banished. I want our forces to regroup in or around the Cartographer. I want any available reinforcements we can send down there now." Captain James Cutter ordered, watching as several archer missiles were launched and flew out to their targets.

"Sir, our forces are requesting ROE for the new Covenant forces." A comms officer called out.

Cutter answered almost immediately, "They are not to engage unless fired upon first. We're in no position to fight such a massive fleet and the Banished, and if this Hurok Wattinree isn't interested in fighting us, I'm not going to give him a reason to."

He had debated for some time as to what to do regarding the new Covenant forces that had arrived. This Hurok Wattinree had announced that he wasn't here to fight the humans, but he also had made clear that he wasn't a friend of humanity, either. It could also be argued that he was merely dealing with the bigger of two threats and leaving them to be dealt with later. Cutter inwardly sighed, knowing this wasn't an easy decision. He was violating several UNSC protocols by allowing the Sangheili to take control of the Ark, but at the same time, his responsibility as the senior officer amongst the Battlegroup meant that he was responsible for the lives of every man and woman here.

If they managed to get back to UNSC space, they would probably try to court-marshall him for losing such a valuable asset, and to the Sangheili of all people. But...

"Lieutenant Shepard, get me a link to this Hurok Wattinree. I think he and I need to have a little talk," Cutter spoke, earning a look from the Comms Officer. Despite the man's evident objection shown on his face, he obeyed the order and went about trying to reach the Sangheili Warlord.

"Captain, we have 19 Banished warships, making a run towards us!" An officer shouted, the holotable coming to life showing the six Banished warships; a heavy cruiser with an armored cruiser, four frigates, nine light corvettes, three heavy corvettes, and one agricultural ship; all on an intercept course with the UNSC Battlegroup. Almost immediately, the Frigates and Destroyers moved forward to intercept, creating a buffer between the Banished and the more valuable UNSC carrier and refitted colony ship.

The captain of the UNSC Saratoga, a Paris-Class frigate, was first to report that his ship was ready to fire on the Banished, followed closely by the Allegiance, another Paris-Class. The Normandy, a Stalwart-class light frigate, stood in front of the Paris-Classes, ready to intercept any fighters the Banished launched; And lastly for the frigates was the Song of Valor, a large Strident-Class, hanging in the rear of the frigate formation. It was designed to replace both the Paris and Stalwart-Classes in the future. The two Halberd-Class destroyers, the UNSC Gallipoli, and UNSC Iroquois were on either flank of the frigates, with dozens of fighters flying around them to provide cover from any Banished fighters trying to attack them.

The UNSC Port Arthur, the Poseidon-Class carrier the Battlegroup had and Captain Meyer's ship, had finished deploying all its fighters and was stationed in front of the Spirit, lining up its MAC gun for a firing solution on the Banished Battlegroup.

The Spirit of Fire's own MAC guns, however, couldn't be used. Having been damaged in the fighting for the Ark, all Captain Cutter's ship could do was provide missile support for the Battlegroup, which it did.

* * *

"Sir, the larger Banished warships are charging their weapons. They're preparing to fire." A bridge officer announced, showing the six larger ships, the cruisers and frigates, priming their plasma torpedoes, their launchers glowing a fierce crimson, almost as if they were glowing red eyes.

"All ships, prepare thrusters for emergency maneuvers. Archer pods 1-12, standby to fire. We'll target the heavy cruiser. All ships, target one of the larger ships and concentrate your fire on my mark." Cutter ordered as each ship proceeded to target an enemy warship, the Banished warships marked by individual ships that were targeting them as they were assisted by Port Arthur's onboard AI, Trinity. Cutter wished Isabel was up here, but she was needed for the mission down at the Cartographer. When everyone's firing solutions were confirmed, Cutter gave the order, "All ships, open fire."

The two fleets fired nearly at the same time, with the UNSC being a hair faster. Hundreds of missiles streaked out towards their targets as the MAC guns fired, their cannons thundering as hundreds of tons of tungsten was shot out at the enemy warships. The six MAC rounds streamed forward, followed by hundreds of missiles. The Banished ships fired their plasma torpedoes, 25 in all, their eery red glow streaking across space as they moved towards the UNSC fleet.

The two salvos sailed past each other and towards their targets. Within seconds, they would reach their targets. The torpedoes reached their targets first.

The UNSC ships fired their emergency thrusters, throwing all kinds of crazy maneuvers to avoid the torpedoes, save for the Song of Valor and Port Arthur, whose energy shielding protected them from the torpedoes that struck them. For the most part, the ships successfully avoided most of the torpedoes, except for three. The UNSC Iroquois received a 'scrapping blow' as the plasma torpedo sailed by it, melting away nearly a meter of the starboard armor as it went past. The titanium-a armor was glowing red and slightly melted, but the ship managed to avoid any severe damage save for the loss of a couple of point-defense guns. The Spirit of Fire also was struck by a couple of torpedoes, but her massive bulk manage to shrug off the hits, despite severe damage to the front of the ship, the MAC guns now melted and warped.

The UNSC Normandy, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

The ship attempted to steer away from the oncoming volley but had been too slow in executing its maneuvers. Two plasma torpedoes struck her in the midsection and near her engines, melting the hull and nearly severing the ship in two. Small fires and explosions could be seen dotting the vessel before seconds later, the reactor went critical. The ship's engines detonated in a blinding display, a small star forming. A second later, the star was gone, leaving nothing but glowing, warp metal of what had once been a mighty UNSC warship. There were no survivors.

The Banished Battlegroup, however, had fared far worse. Hundreds of missiles were shot down by the Banished pulse lasers, but there were just too many for them to shoot down. Then, the MAC rounds struck home.

All four of the frigates were struck by MAC rounds, penetrating their shields and tearing into their hulls, followed by hundreds of missiles hitting their now unprotected hulls, devastating their superstructure. The four ships were soon nothing more than torn wrecks, billowing smoke from dozens of fires across their hulls, slowing falling out of formation and descending to the installation's surface below.

The armored cruiser, with armor much thicker than even the notorious CCS-Class Battlecruiser but weaker shields, lost its energy shields but the armor withstood the barrage of one hundred and nineteen missiles pelting its hull. Its hull was a burning, battered wreck after the salvo, but it was still very much in the fight.

The Heavy Cruiser fared better than the rest of the ships; its shields hadn't even been penetrated by the MAC round or the hundreds of rounds that struck it. The massive former-Covenant vessel continued on its course with the Armored Cruiser, closing the distance with the UNSC Battlegroup.

 _'Captain Cutter, the Banished ships are in fact on an intercept course, coming at full speed. If course corrections aren't made within the next 3 minutes, there is a 68% chance they with ram one or two of our ships.'_ The Port Arthur's AI, Trinity, informed on the comms. Cutter narrowed his eyes, "Prime up weapons. Focus on getting the MAC guns recharged." He eyed the Banished warships again, suspicious of their behavior. With such odds, the Banished should have easily wiped out their Battlegroup, but it almost seemed like they were more interested in running than fighting. Why?

A few seconds later, the holotable showed him why.

The holotable showed another Battlegroup, this one part of Hurok Wattinree's Fleet, pursuing the Banished ships. There were 6 battlecruisers and 2 heavy destroyers being led by a massive super destroyer, all following the Banished Battlegroup as fast as they could. Now the Banished fleet's behavior made sense. They were trying to flee their pursuers and rejoin the main Banished fleet. And the UNSC just happened to be in their way.

Well, he couldn't just let them rejoin their friends, now could he?

"Comms, how's that connection to the Elites coming?" Cutter asked.

Lieutenant Shepard shook his head, "Still nothing, sir. Either we're not reaching him, or he's ignoring our hail."

Cutter muttered a curse, aimed at a certain Sangheili in particular. "Keep trying. In the meantime, prep MAC guns for a second salvo. I want all ships to target the cruisers with their MACs, and launch Archer missiles at the corvettes escorting them." He tapped a finger on to the communications device, "Captain Meyer, you have a total of five nuclear warheads, correct?"

 _'Affirmative, Captain. Five Shiva-Class nukes, ready to use.'_

Cutter nodded, "Good. Prime one and target the center of the Banished Fleet. Let's see if we can't thin the numbers a little more." The holotable showed numerous Banished Corvettes being targeted by hundreds of missiles. They would have to make this salvo count because they would be too low on missiles afterward to try this again. "Sir, we're reading energy spikes amongst the New Covenant warships. They're targeting the Banished Battlegroup." An officer shouted.

With this new information added to the equation, James Cutter began working out a plan to eliminate most if not all the Banished Battlegroup. The seconds ticked by as the Banished formation came closer and closer. But, finally, Cutter received confirmation that the missiles were ready to fire.

"All ships, launch missile salvo," Cutter ordered. Once again, hundreds of missiles came screaming out surging towards the Banished Fleet. The majority of the missiles targeted the corvettes, and since they lacked shields like their bigger counterparts, they were forced to cut power to their engines and redirect to their pulse lasers to shoot them down. Hundreds of missiles were shot down, but more than enough made it through the point defenses to strike their targets, including one particular missile.

The Shiva-Class Nuclear Missile detonated right in the middle of the corvette formation, a massive star that seemed to form right in the middle of the formation, engulfing several ships. Several of the Banished Warships, their hulls charred and covered in numerous small fires, fell out of formation while others drifted out of the formation as the following EMP shut down their systems.

A few moments later, the Covenant Battlegroup fired their plasma torpedoes, dozens of red bolts streaking out across space as they raced towards their targets. The Banished attempted to shoot them down, but too many of their ships were crippled, and there were simply too many torpedoes that had been fired. The first of the torpedoes slammed into the crippled corvettes, blasting them apart as multiple torpedoes struck them. The lone agriculture ship amongst the Banished Battlegroup was hit by three separate torpedoes, one of which struck the engines. As the burning wreck slowly dove down towards the Ark's surface, the engines went critical and ignited, the warship turning into a miniature star for a second before disappearing.

At least a couple of torpedoes struck every one of the Banished ships, some handling the strikes better than others. When the volley was done, there were just 6 ships still standing, both Cruisers and 4 of the Corvettes. The rest were either drifting wrecks or were burning, warped infernos slowly descending towards the Ark's surface.

"All ships open fire with the MAC guns!" Cutter ordered.

8 MAC rounds thundered out, sailing towards their two targets. This time, the Cruisers weren't as lucky as before. The armored Cruiser was struck by all three rounds fired at it, and with its shields down, they slammed into its hull, tearing out huge chunks of metal and mauling the warship. The bow of the Cruiser was a smoldering inferno, smoke streaming out of the ship, while its port 'wing' was a twisted and gnarled wreck, the metal glowing red from the sheer heat generated by the MAC round striking it. Small explosions blew out of the hull, turning the massive ship into a funeral pyre as it slowly lost altitude and descended to the Ark's surface. As it descended, the stress on its mangled hull became too much, and the mighty warship broke apart.

The Heavy Cruiser managed to repel the first 2 shots with its energy shields, but the third shot managed to shatter them and partially penetrate, slamming into the bulbous bow of the ship. The last two rounds struck near the stern, blowing off hunks of metal of the warship's hull. Despite this severe damage, the Heavy Cruiser still refused to die. It's Plasma Torpedo launchers glowed a fiery red color once more, but the warship never got the chance to fire.

The New Covenant Super Destroyer, from an incredible distance of some 150,000 kilometers, impaled the Cruiser on 2 lances from its energy projectors. The Heavy Cruiser was bisected at the engines, causing one of the engines to ignite, and had its bow sliced off with almost surgical precision. The doomed ship, slowly but surely, began to drift and list as it began its slow descent towards the Ark's surface, fires raging uncontrollably from dozens of areas across the ship.

Captain Cutter looked back to the holotable, watching as the New Covenant Battlegroup closed the distance, their weapons still hot. Despite the tense situation, neither side fired on one another, much to Cutter's relief. Maybe Wattinree was honest, or perhaps he simply wanted to make sure humanity didn't interfere with whatever he had planned. Either way, the Covenant Battlegroup was maintaining a respectable distance, so it looked as though peace would reign for now between the two factions.

'At least until the Banished are dealt with...'

"Sir! I have a link to the Supercarrier! It looks like they decided to talk." Lieutenant Shepard informed. Cutter nodded at this and mentally prepared himself for whatever was about to transpire. "Open the link, Lieutenant."

* * *

 _ **Fleet of Divine Fury**_ _ **  
CSO-Class Supercarrier 'Walk of Divinity'  
Bridge**_

Hurok Wattinree stared at the hologram of the Human Shipmaster before him; his eyes narrowed as he studied the man. His bridge crew would give an occasional report on the results of the ongoing battle with Atriox's Fleet, but his attention was being forced away from that due to this Human's persistence. Whatever the Human wanted, it apparently couldn't wait.

"In case you haven't noticed, Human, there is a battle going on." Hurok sarcastically remarked, leaning back in his chair.

 _'Considering we just helped your forces destroy a Banished Battlegroup, I'd say we've noticed, Commander.'_ The Human Shipmaster shot back. Hurok restrained himself from showing any form of irritation at the remark. The Human had some nerve; he would give him that, considering their situation.

"What is it you want?"

 _'Answers. What is your intention at the Ark? What are you trying to accomplish?'_

Hurok paused, uncertain as to whether or not he should tell the Humans the scope of his plans. They already knew he was planning on taking over the Ark, so they would immediately be wary of him, considering they tended to believe that only they should have access to the treasures and marvels of the Forerunners. But if they knew the true scope of his plans here, would they still help him? Or would they try to resist him? He had been honest when he said he had no particular quarrel with the human race, but he didn't want to see them become a threat to the Sangheili in the future. And they most certainly would if they were allowed to recover. The war between their two people had left too many resentful and too many more dead. It was just as he told the Arbiter, there was just too much blood, and hate spilled between the two to allow a practical peace. And with the Sangheili and other former Covenant races divided into hundreds of small fiefdoms and factions, this would merely be made all the worse for decades to come.

No. Peace would not be possible in the long run. All that was left to do was a race to see who could recover from the war and rebuild their strength first before the other did so. Despite that, he still needed the humans to achieve what he needed...

With a restrained sigh, the Supreme Commander made his decision, "I would right to assume you're aware of what is happening in the galaxy right now, correct Shipmaster?"

 _'The Created? My ship and crew have been... out of the loop for some time, but yes, I'm aware of what's going on.'_

"Then you are aware that we are currently losing our fight with the Created. Badly. Their Guardians are too strong and their Prometheans simply too many. Every day, more and more worlds are conquered by their armies, with any form of resistance crushed ruthlessly by these machines. Destroying even one of these Guardians is a tremendous undertaking, often costing dozens of our ships to destroy. I have heard it is even worst for your forces. In one battle alone, your navy lost over half of a 60 strong fleet to destroy just one Guardian, and this was with your super ship 'Infinity' supporting the fight. The only respite we have had is the fact that the Created have a limited number of these Guardians available to them, limiting how many worlds they can attack at once." Hurok explained, intentionally not mentioning that most of those ships lost in that engagement were Human Frigates and Destroyers, who had sacrificed themselves as human shields to defend the bigger warships as they attacked the Guardian.

 _'So what does the Ark have to do with the Guardians or the war with the Created? Hiding here isn't a solution. If the Created succeeds in taking over the galaxy, then they'll eventually find a way here to the Ark. Unless there's something here that can help battle the Created and turn the tide.'_ The human shipmaster responded, folding his arms around his chest. Well, at least the human wasn't entirely foolish.

"Indeed, human. There is something here that may help turn the war back into our favor, or at the very least level the field of battle." Hurok answered, gesturing with his hand, "But before that is told, some history about the Ark is needed to be told to understand fully what my objective is. Tell me, shipmaster, what all do you know about the Ark?"

There was an awkward pause from the human shipmaster, before he answered, _'I'm not sure I'm at liberty to discuss that with you.'_

Hurok scoffed angrily, or rather the Sangheili equivalent to one, "And I think that worrying about what your ONI might do should be the last thing on your mind, human. Especially considering our situation." He paused, collecting himself before continuing, "Very well, human. I shall 'enlighten' you, then. Tens of thousands of years ago, the Forerunner were fighting a war against the parasite. The Flood. A war they were losing. No matter the plans or strategies that they used, the Flood were unstoppable in their quest to consume all life in the galaxy. In the final years of the war and as they lost more and more ground to the parasite, the Forerunner began growing increasingly desperate. Ultimately, this desperation would lead to the creation of the Ark, which would create the one weapon that could and would stop the Flood."

 _'Halo.'_ Hurok nodded in confirmation.

So the human knew what they were? Good. He had mostly heard rumors, but enough to believe that ONI was keeping the existence of the rings, or at the least their purpose, secret from humanity as a whole. He wouldn't have been surprised; the bastards hoarded information and technology that could have helped mankind in the war. (Especially some of the things he's found after raiding their facilities.)

"Yes, the Halos were the one weapon that would destroy the Flood and spare the galaxy, at the cost of killing all life within it. This was the Ark's main function, along with serving as a refuge, but primarily to serve as the control room for which to fire all 7 of the rings and purge all life in the galaxy, saving it from the flood and giving it a chance to recover. However," The Supreme Commander leaned in on the hologram, "This was not the only function of the Ark. As the war dragged on, many of their vital and strategic facilities were lost to the Flood, leaving the Forerunners unable to coordinate or control some of their more effective or important assets, whether they be ships, forges, or Guardians."

"The Guardians are... were connected to a Forerunner artifact known as the Domain. I do not know much about it, but it was crucial to the Forerunners' empire, and when it was lost, they lost their ability to effectively control the Guardians. While they were not great at fighting the Flood, they were still useful for policing systems and helping maintaining order in the dying days of the empire, so the Forerunners in their infinite wisdom built a secondary control center for all the Guardians in the galaxy."

His grin turned predatory as he gestured with his hand. "That control center is here on the Ark... and I plan to use it to destroy the Guardians."

 _'How did you find this out?'_

"How is not important." He wasn't going to tell them of the Forerunner Ancilla he acquired, not if he could help it, "What's important is that we use this control room to destroy the Guardians. The only respite we have had so far in this war is that the Created have only a limited number of Guardians under their control, probably a few hundred, certainly less than a thousand. They're limited on how many they can control at once, but if they get control of the Ark..."

 _'They could control most of Forerunner relics spread throughout the galaxy almost seamlessly, and there would be no stopping them then.'_

"Correct."

 _'And you want to destroy the Guardians? Not control them.'_ The human shipmaster narrowed his eyes suspiciously, clearly not convinced.

Hurok narrowed his own eyes, "These machines are too dangerous for any one person to control. The potential for them to be misused by malevolent forces is simply too great. I would rather they be destroyed than risk some fanatic or more unsavory factions (ONI, or just humans in general.) getting control of these machines and using them against the galaxy. Better they are destroyed than fall into the wrong hands."

The human shipmaster didn't look convinced but said nothing for several moments. The two commanders stared at one another, studying each other. As if doing so would reveal some chink in their armor or a flaw that could be exploited. The clear lack of trust was evident between the two races. Finally, after several tense moments of this standoff, Das 'Zocam, who had been quietly observing from beside Hurok's throne was about to speak to his former student, but the human shipmaster spoke.

 _'And let me guess, for this plan to work, you need our help.'_

Hurok growled softly, "As much as it irritates me, both you and the Forerunner's damn obsession with your kind, you are correct human. Most Forerunner technology requires a human to properly operate it, so your assistance is likely required. And I would rather it be willingly than forced."

 _'Is that a threat?'_

"Just a polite reminder that your species isn't the only one threatened here. Make no mistake human, while I was honest in saying I do not quarrel with your kind, I do not love your kind, either. I am here to save _my_ people. And I will do whatever is necessary to do so. And you're kind has proven time and again to be very untrustworthy, especially your ONI. The Arbiter is a fool to believe that peace can last between our two people after all the blood spilled. Eventually, war will return. Both your leaders and those amongst my kind will see to that."

He paused for a moment, composing himself before leaning back slightly in his throne, "But... depending on what happens now and in the near future, perhaps war can be averted between our two races. Maybe not peace, but maybe we'll learn to accept the other's presence. Tolerate it, perhaps... but I can't see us being allies in the long-term, human. For now, we will have to settle for allies of convenience and necessity."

For the longest time, neither of the two leaders spoke a word. Aside from the occasional report from an orderly, silence reigned between the two. Captain Cutter, who studied his equal for any sign of deceit and was deep in thought, while Commander Wattinree merely waited, patiently waiting for the human to make a decision. Even as a battle with his hated foe raged around him, Hurok's attention was solely on that of the human commander. His commanders were competent, and the Banished were on the verge of annihilation. That was no longer the most critical issue. The next decision this human would make could very well decide the course of this war.

"Before you make your choice, human, know this. Your decision could very well decide the outcome of this war. For the sake of not just my people or yours, but everyone in this galaxy of ours, I hope you choose wisely."

He never thought he would be this reliant on a human, or even need to be. He hated this. What would he do? Would the humans swallow their pride and join forces with him, a hated foe with many decades of blood spilled between them. Or would they choose to resist and fight both the Banished and him, forcing Hurok to fight the humans and potentially doom the entire plan altogether?

After several moments, Captain Cutter gave his answer.

* * *

 ** _Forerunner Installation 00 'The Ark'_**  
 ** _3 miles from the Ark Cartographer_**

1st Lieutenant Harrison Clark swore as he swiveled the Scorpion's gun towards the second Banished Wraith up on the ridgeline, its two partners now a pair of smoldering wrecks beside it. The Wraith fired, the plasma round sailing overhead as it slammed into the ground not 10 feet from his tank, bluish-purple flames dancing across his tank. The M808S Scorpion shook from the explosion, causing Harrison to curse once more.

"Sod off, you fucking cunt!" He growled as the Scorpion's 105mm cannon fired, sending an APBC round down towards the Banished tank. And just like its companion, the Wraith was decimated by the round, the vehicle erupting into flames as the round tore through the armor. God, he loves the new gun on this tank. It may not have been the monstrous 120 of the Grizzly or even the new 150 of the new M820 Scorpions (Which they had none of here at the Ark, to his knowledge.), but it was leagues above the old 90mm cannon. Not that it was terrible, but it just wasn't strong enough when you were often facing dozens of enemy tanks that each took 2 or 3 hits to destroy. It just wasn't practical, especially if you were outnumbered.

Thankfully, Serina, as a parting gift, gave their Scorpions a much-needed upgrade in firepower, protection, mobility, everything. The tanks hadn't been just overhauled; they'd been completely redesigned and improved. He wished the AI was still here, but nothing can be done about it. Isabel and Trinity would have to do for now.

The 105 roared again, tearing into a watchtower the Banished had set up, killing the crew of anti-tankers that had been harassing the Warthogs. The structure came tumbling down in a heap, the crew onboard now nothing but bloody chunks.

"Gamma-Actual, this is Gamma-Lead, all enemy armor eliminated. We're moving up to assist the rest of the 45th Marine Regiment. We need to eliminate those damn Reavers. How's the road ahead looking, over?"

 _'Affirmative, Gamma-Lead.'_ Gamma Company's Commander, Captain Nora Varela, answered, _'Um, be advise, Gamma-Lead, we are getting reports and sightings of several Blisterbacks and Locusts ahead that are dug in on the ridgeline three klicks from here. We'll need to clear them out before we can tackle that AA, over.'_

"Copy, Gamma-Actual. We'll get it done. Gamma, out."

Clark moved his tank company forward, all 16 of his surviving Scorpions; not including himself and out of an initial 24; moving as one over an area nearly half a kilometer wide as the tanks made their way slowly through the ravine up towards the very ridge they were firing at moments earlier. Several Warthogs and 3 Wolverine Anti-Air halftracks followed the tanks, ready to assist infantry or aircraft. The Warthogs surged ahead of the tanks looking to take any infantry out before they could fire ATs at the tanks, while the Wolverines followed in close behind the Scorpions, not wanting to come under attack themselves. They were made for engaging aircraft, not ground targets. "All vehicles, check your sectors and keep your trigger fingers handy. I don't want any of the fucking baby kongs popping us with a couple of Fuel Rods, over." Clark called out, receiving a chorus of 'Affirmative' and 'Roger' from most of his company.

That was one thing he hated about the Banished. Just like the Covenant, the fuckers wouldn't give up. They were daresay even more fanatical and ferocious than the Covenant ever was. When they fought, they wouldn't just stand their ground or charge blindly. Oh, no. Instead, these clever bastards would use decent tactics, like ambushes or pincer moves to overwhelm UNSC forces. And Clark hated it. A lot of good men and women were dead because they underestimated Atriox's craftiness. He couldn't help but hope that they get a chance to drop the bastard. He was a Brute that needed to be eliminated.

 _'Gamma-Lead, this is Gamma Actual. Recon's reporting that they've spotted another column of Banished armor moving to intercept us ahead of the AA guns. They got Locusts with them this time, too. Over.'_

"Jesus." He moaned, then quickly replied on comms, "Roger, Gamma-Actual. Gamma Company's moving to engage. Any word on reinforcements, over?"

 _'Negative, Gamma-Actual. Reinforcements are on the way, but won't be available for another 10 mins. Out.'_

Clark shook his head, "Go fucking figure." He looked around in his driver's seat, frowning. Though his neural implants allowed him to operate many large vehicles, including the said-tank he was in, by himself, he hated the loneliness that came with it. Having an extra person to talk to in the vehicle would have been nice, and made things feel less claustrophobic for him. The only people he would talk to were the ones in his company in other tanks. Oh sure, he spoke and socialized with them, but it wasn't the same as talking to someone in person, and when you're spending hours inside a metal box by yourself, that loneliness and isolation could start getting to you.

He took a swig from his hydration pack's drinking tube, then took a deep breath. Nothing he could do about it right now. "Gamma Company, this is Gamma-Lead. Standby for combat, we have another Banished formation coming to intercept us. Find some cover and get ready to repel, over."

He received a chorus of 'Roger.' from all of his tanks, as they started to move about the plain, settling in behind rocks or wrecked vehicles to give them some form of cover. As they finished up, someone shouted over the comms, _'INCOMING! BLISTERBACK MISSILE BARRAGE!'_

Sure enough, dozens of missiles were soaring in from the Blisterbacks, straight towards his company. Almost immediately, the tanks and other UNSC vehicles began throwing up countermeasures to throw off the missiles' aim. Dozens of countermeasure flares flying up into the air, which would have never worked on plasma weapons, worked perfectly for the missiles the Banished were firing at them, causing many to swerve out of control as they couldn't track their targets. Some slammed into the ground, exploding with tremendous force, while others just went flying up into the sky. Only a handful landed anywhere near their targets, destroying a Wolverine and a couple of Warthogs, but the rest of the task force came out unscathed. Shaken up and battered, but unhurt.

Then came the Banished forces, Locusts and Wraiths, both the regular kind and the elongated APC variant that the Banished would make, storming down the ridge to attack and route the UNSC forces coming for them.

"Gamma, light 'em up! Take these bastards out!" Clark ordered as he took aim and fired on one of the Wraiths coming down the ridge. Moments later, he was satisfied as he saw the tank burst into flames as the tank round struck home, before moving on to the next target and shooting. The Banished, of course, weren't going to take this sort of abuse being thrown at them. He could see the Wraiths returning fire, lobbing dozens of plasma mortar rounds through the air towards the UNSC forces, while the Locusts walkers fired their Focus Cannons at his Scorpions to try and 'snipe' the biggest threat to their forces. Wraith APCs began disembarking their troops, the Banished warriors spreading out to keep from being taken out by a single well placed tank round.

Clark fired his gun again, this time at one of the Locust walkers, and cursed when the round impacted against its shields, failing to penetrate. The Locust pilot must have seen where the shot came from because it immediately swerved its cannon around and fired a shot at him, the long beam of focused plasma energy missing his tank by just a couple meters. Clark fired again, the vehicle shaking as his main cannon roared. The shields held still. Clark fired once more. This time, the round broke through the walker's shield and tore off a chunk of armor from its 'head,' bits of metal flying off its hull. Gases began venting out the side, meaning he must have hit some of the cannon's plasma stores.

If the pilot didn't get out-

And sure enough, the compromised plasma storage ruptured in a brilliant explosion that tore off the 'head' of the Locust and sent it flying through the air, before landing in a molten heap a couple of meters away from its body. The pilot didn't get out of that.

Good.

Lieutenant Clark swung the turret around and fired a long burst from his machine gun at a couple of squads of Banished troops, hitting a few of them and hopefully convincing the others that advancing on the UNSC positions wasn't a good idea for their health. He fired his main gun again at a Wraith, the 105mm round breaking through the weak energy shields they carried and turning it into a blazing inferno like many of its brethren.

His company wasn't coming out Scott-free, however, as he heard the screams of one of his tank crew on comms as a Scorpion was destroyed by a Locust's Focus Cannon, followed by a report on his HUD. The bastards had killed 3 of his tanks and a half dozen hogs, at least a couple dozen Marines dead as the firefight raged on. But the Banished refused to give up, as their tanks and walkers continued forward firing away at anything that was hostile. He had to give the bastards credit, they were determined, even with the odds suddenly stacked against them thanks to this new Covenant arriving. But, with said odds against them, even the Banished couldn't hope to keep such attacks going forever. Eventually, they would have to retreat or risk being destroyed.

He just hoped they would do so before his company was destroyed.

Another Scorpion was reported destroyed, struck by a trio of Plasma Mortars that reduced it to molten slag. Clark cursed as he fired again, targeting a group of brutes trying to advance and turning them into bloody chunks. He opened up with several bursts from the coaxial machine gun to finish off the survivors and sent several grunts supporting them fleeing or dying. "Come on, you bastards. Fuck off, already!" He roared as he fired the coaxial again, gunning down more Banished infantry trying to advance on a squad of Marines pinned down.

His HUD sent him a new report; Air Support was imminent, along with some reinforcements to bolster his force. He was being given specific instructions not to engage the reinforcements. He made a face at that. He'd heard just about every jokes imaginable about Lieutenants in the military, but they couldn't seriously believe he was this stupid. Why the hell would he engage his own side-

His question was answered almost immediately, as a massive Covenant Scarab descended from the sky and landed not 20 meters from his position. The monstrous walker recovered from its drop and faced its weapon towards the approaching Banished tanks, every step it took shaking the ground beneath it. With a metallic whine, its Focus Cannon came to life, shooting out a concentrated green beam of plasma at several Banished Wraiths, obliterating them in one shot as the walker swept the formation.

The Banished weren't thrilled at this newcomer's entry into the fight and made this known by firing another salvo from the Blisterbacks on the ridge, all of them aimed at the massive walker, with several Locust and Wraiths firing at it, too. The Scarab weathered the punishment, thanks in part to its armor and... wait, was that? Clark zoomed in the gun camera on his Scorpion's cannon, and sure enough, he caught the glimmer of a shield dancing across the walker. This Covenant Faction had put energy shields on their Scarabs as if the fuckers weren't hard enough to kill.

The Scarab continued its bloody one-man rampage, tearing through the Banished formation while several Phantoms and Liches flew in, deploying Sangheili troopers and Covenant vehicles. The craziest thing about all of this was that none of these hinge heads were giving his forces any notice, as if they didn't exist. "The hell?" Clark asked no one in particular. Were they suddenly working with the Covenant, now? Since when?

"Gamma-Lead, this is Gamma-Actual. We have numerous hinge-heads deploying around us but not engaging. Can you verify what's going on, over?"

 _'Affirmative, Gamma-Actual. Be advised; Command has established strict ROE regarding the Sangheili forces. As of now, they are to be considered non-hostile and not engaged. Over.'_

"Copy that, Gamma-Lead. To clarify, you said they were non-hostile, but not friendly. Correct, over?"

 _'Affirmative, Gamma-Actual. The Sangheili are not to be considered allies, but they are not to be engaged. Best keep your distance from them for now, Gamma-Actual. Gamma-Lead, out.'_

Great. So after fighting the Banished for 11 days, they now had to worry about another faction of Covenant Remnants that may or may not be hostile. Same shit, different day. Clark sighed as he pulled up a report for his Company's status, now that the Banished had retreated.

Their losses had been moderate, but enough to where he couldn't guarantee success if they tried to attack the Banished's anti-air positions. He was down to 10 Scorpions out of 17 and about half of his initial Warthogs, though 2/3 of the Marines were still alive or uninjured. His Wolverines had come through unscathed, thankfully, but they would only be useful if the Banished attacked with Banshees and Liches. (And they hadn't for some reason. Maybe they really were getting their asses kicked in orbit.) He could attack the guns, but the Banished still had a lot of firepower and defenses held up in reserve up on the ridge, and attacking it would likely destroy his company in the process. He wasn't about to throw away his men's lives if he could help.

He noticed the Covenant were landing in force now, dozens of Phantoms and Liches deploying troops and vehicles on the ground as they attacked the Banished positions. The two foes battled it out as if it would be the last thing either of them did. Scores of plasma explosions dotted the hill, and at that moment, 1st Lieutenant Harrison Clark made his decision.

Screw the landing zone; his men were more important. Let the Split-lips and Baby Kongs duke it out. In the long run, it would be less of them the UNSC would have to kill later. He set up a rendezvous on his HUD, informed command of what he was doing, then gave the order on a company-wide communication, "All Gamma Company elements, we are pulling back. Fallback to these coordinates and fortify the position until we receive new orders and reinforcements. Gamma-Actual, out."

* * *

 ** _At the same time...  
Spartan Red Team  
Ark Cartographer Interior_**

Alice fired a burst from her BR55, dropping the unggoy as the rounds turned its skull into bloody mush. With its death, the last of the Banished forces in the room, and last line of defense before the defenders within the Cartographer itself had been eliminated.

 _'That's the last of them. Area Secured.'_ Came Isabel's voice through the comms, _'Now, all that's left is the Cartographer and we're in business.'_

The last remnants of the Banished had fallen back to the Cartographer's room, hoping help would arrive to get them out. Neither the humans or Banished defenders were aware that the Banished had already been driven back from the Cartographer by legions of Hurok Wattinree's forces. What few defenders were still here had been left for dead.

The Spartan team and what surviving ODST that had accompanied them, a dozen in total, moved towards the door that would lead to the Cartographer Room. All they had to do was finish off the Banished forces defending it and they would control the Cartographer. The Marines following them could then lock down the Cartographer while the strike team located the control room and set the Ark to self-destruct. Keeping it out of the hands of both Covenant and Banished. It would mean the UNSC loses it, too, but better it is lost to them than used against them.

The Spartans entered through the door first, making sure the Banished didn't leave any unwanted surprises for them before they reached the Cartographer. But none were there. Either the Banished had run out of toys to use or were saving them for the final battle. If Alice was a gambler, she would bet on the latter.

"Form up. Be ready to breach." Jerome ordered as the Spartans and Helljumpers lined up against the wall. Their motion trackers were showing no enemy movement on the other side of the door, which was unnerving. The Banished must have another ambush set up and there was no telling what they had on the other side of this door. Either way, they needed to secure the Cartographer.

"Breach on 3," Jerome ordered, holding a hand up as he counted down with his fingers.

 _3\. 2. 1!_

The soldiers broke through the door, spreading out quickly, weapons ready to fire. But the site that greeted them wasn't what they were expecting.

The Banished positions were smoldering wrecks, with several Type-26 and Type-55 Shade turrets destroyed or overturned. Dozens of Jiralhanae, Sangheili, Unggoy, and even a pair of Hunters could be seen sprawled out across the room. Many of the Sangheili had not died pleasantly, with a good number of them dismembered or disemboweled. Plasma burns and scorch marks littered the room, showing just how much fighting had occurred in the room. Smoke rose up from several positions across the outdoor room, slowly making their way out towards the open air.

And standing in front of the Control Center, operating its controls, was a squad-sized element of Sangheili warriors, wearing grey-green armor that they had never seen before. The Warriors turned around and looked at the newcomers, weapons lowered but ready to be used. The armor they were wearing wasn't the standard storm harness that many Sangheili had seemed to have adopted nowadays; instead, it was much bulkier, heavier, and appeared to offer much better protection than the minimalist storm harness. And since when did the elites used a grey-green color scheme on their armor? Were they learning from their human foes to use proper camouflage for once?

One of the hinge-heads hadn't turned around, instead, it was still working the controls of the Cartographer, scrolling through its information. 'How was it accessing it?' Alice thought, 'I thought only humans could interact with Forerunner Relics.'

The Sangheili slowly spread out, never taking their eyes off the humans. The humans, in turn, kept their weapons trained on the elites, fingers on triggers. Neither side fired, though, to the surprise of the humans. They had expected the elites to open fire the moment they saw them, but instead, the elites stood firm.

"You would be wise... not to attack, Spartans." The elite operating the controls spoke, not even turning to address them. "Doing so may very well doom us all."

The elite finished what it was doing and pulled out a datapad, typing in a few commands into the device before speaking into his comms gear, "It's done. Surprisingly, the Cartographer responded to my touch, but regardless we now have the coordinates, Commander."

The 'Commander' must have responded, because the elite warrior nodded after a few moments and spoke, "Yes, Commander. It will be done." For the first time since they entered the room, the elite finally looked at the Spartans, giving them a glance before speaking to his commander, "The humans have arrived. Has there been a conclusion as to how we will treat them, Commander?"

Again, after several moments, the elite spoke into his comms gear, "Yes, Commander. Understood." before turning his attention to his comrades and the humans, "Phantoms will pick us up momentarily, then we will make our way to the Control Room and hopefully end this conflict."

"That's not going to happen, elite." Douglas responded, BR55 aimed at the Sangheili, "You're not going anywhere."

"We are going..." The Sangheili snarled, "to end this war with the Created and save the galaxy, including you ungrateful and worthless humans. You can either help us in this goal and save your people as well as ours or get out of the way." The warrior followed this with an igniting of his plasma sword, ready to use if needed as he glared down the Spartans.

Tension rose between the two sides, with battle threatening to break out between the two sides. Neither side was willing to back down. The ODST and Spartans spread out to whatever cover was available around them, while the elites did the same. Yet still, neither side fired the first shot. For the Humans, it was due to the fact they knew they were outnumbered and facing enemy reinforcements inbound. For the elites, they didn't want to risk losing their newly acquired data, especially since they haven't been able to forward it to their Supreme Commander, yet.

All it would take for a battle to break out was just one soldier to lose their nerve...

 _'Red Team, this is Spirit-Actual. Come in, over.'_ Suddenly, Captain Cutter's voice came in over the comms of the UNSC soldiers. Isabel was quick to respond, _'Spirit-Actual, This is Red Team. We're in the middle of a situation. Covenant Forces have beaten us to the Cartographer and have acquired strategic information regarding the Control Room. We're currently in a stand-off with Sangheili Forces and-'_

 _'Red Team, do not engage! I repeat, do not engage, over!'_

This sudden order caused the Spartans to look at one another, if momentarily. Jerome was quick to respond, "Spirit-Actual, this is Sierra-092. Please verify, over."

 _'Sierra-092, as of now the Covenant forces are to be treated as allies. We have a common goal in needing to stop both the Banished and the Created. And right now, since our plan just got thrown out the airlock, Hurok Wattinree has the only plan that will give us any chance of turning the tide. So for now, we're going to play nice with the Elites and we might just save the galaxy in the process, over."_

None of the soldiers present liked the idea of working with the Elites, warriors that had murdered billions in their genocidal campaign against humanity. And now they were supposed to be friends with them? The crew of the Spirit of Fire had all heard about the new government that had taken over the hinge-heads' homeworld, but they were skeptical about whether this government would remain friendly to humanity in the long run. But, orders were orders, and they weren't going to give the elites an excuse to attack the UNSC ships in orbit. Not that they had needed one in the past...

Reluctantly, the Spartans lowered their weapons, followed by the ODST. "Understood, Spirit-Actual. Red Team, out."

The Elites visibly relaxed as the humans stood down, the commanding elite deactivating his sword as he gave out a command, "Decloak."

Suddenly, nearly two dozen more elites suddenly appeared around them as their cloaking devices deactivated, weapons drawn and aimed at the humans. As they revealed themselves, they too slowly relaxed and regrouped with their comrades at the Cartographer control panel. The Spartans were, for once in a long time, shocked. The Elites had had them surrounded and they never once suspected it. These elites were much more experienced than their war-era or Banished counterparts.

"We are Inquisitors, demon. Trained by Commander Wattinree for the sole purpose of hunting and slaying Spartans." The commanding elite spoke with an aura of pride and confidence, "And we have garnered much experience doing so." Without another word, the Elite turned around and continued to type away on his datapad, before motioning a couple of his comrades over to converse.

In the distance, the Spartans could see a flight of phantoms approaching the control room, slowly getting bigger as they got closer to the control room. Looking at one another, the Spartans were uncertain as to what would happen next, knowing that for now, all they could do was cooperate and hopefully, this would lead to a favorable outcome.

And maybe they can save humanity in the process.

* * *

 _ **81 Miles North from the Cartographer  
**_ _ **Banished Evacuation Point  
**_ _ **Warlord Pavium's Outpost**_

"Get me some more fighters to cover the left flank! They're overwhelming our brothers with their damn air force! Send more Hunters and Wraiths to bolster the defensive line! I will not leave our brothers here to perish at the hands of Wattinree's horde, so we will hold!" The Jiralhanae Warlord thundered into the communications as he observed the holotable showing the state of the battle. His red eyes narrowed in frustration as he observed the map. His bare head, having lost his headwear, was caked in dried blood of both the enemies and his own. Physically and mentally, the warrior was exhausted but did not dare show it in front of his men.

The Banished had established, in rather impressive time, a deep defensive line that was divided into three layers spread across some 20 miles of desert and canyon, meant to stall and delay the enemy's advance. So far, Watinree's Forces had only managed to penetrate the first line of defenses in two areas and were heavily contesting the area to try and push forward. The only thing keeping them from advancing further was the sheer skill of Pavium's command, who had established several quick reaction forces to plug up and counterattack any breakthroughs made.

To the untrained eye, it looked as if the two sides were locked in a stalemate. But to Pavium, he knew better. The Banished were losing through sheer attrition. Eventually, Wattinree's Forces would break through once his forces were depleted. At best, Pavium could hold off the enemy for another hour provided nothing went wrong, which something certainly would. It didn't help that Decimus being gravely injured had demoralized the men. He wasn't the most cunning warrior in the Banished, but he was popular amongst the soldiers and many would follow him into the fiercest of battles.

Regardless of any setbacks or disadvantages, Pavium was determined in his duty. The scorched and damaged armor on his frame, with burn marks and dents all across it, was a testament to this. He refused to abandon his brothers-in-arms, throw their lives away carelessly like the Covenant of old would have done. If he could save them, he damn well would try to do so.

"What's the status of the Battlegroup?" He demanded.

"Warlord, the Battlegroup maintains its position, but is under heavy attack." A chieftain answered from across the holotable, "Their shipmaster claims that he cannot maintain their position for much longer, lest we risk losing our ships as well."

"He damn well better hold his position," Pavium snarled, "We still have thousands of brothers trickling in. Every one of them we can save is one less veteran that we will need to replace in the future. He will hold his position and support us however possible!"

He could hear the explosions off in the distance, the sound of tens of thousands battling one another. And here he was, trying to coordinate all of it. Tens of thousands of Banished Warriors versus hundreds of thousands of Sangheili warriors. And it didn't help that his air force was being whittled away, slowly annihilated as Wattinree's Forces launch sortie after sortie against him, their numbers and experience making all the difference. The damned Sangheili Warlord has troops to spare. Pavium didn't.

Suddenly, there was a series of loud explosions in the distance, strong enough to cause the ground to rumble as Pavium grabbed the holotable for support.

 _'Pavium, come in, over!'_ Came the voice of his brother, Voridus, through the comms. He was up at the frontline, coordinating their pack and the defenses.

"What is it, Voridus? What was that explosion just now?"

 _'I don't know what it was, maybe a plasma torpedo strike, but whatever it was, it's wiped out our first line! Our troops are falling back in total disarray!'_

"Have the men regroup at the secondary line and hold there, brother! We must buy more time for our men to evacuate!" Pavium narrowed his eyes in confusion as he tried to figure out what they could have used to wipe out so many defenses in one decisive strike. It couldn't have been plasma torpedoes. Wattinree's ships were hanging back from the battle, apparently not yet wanting to try and fight Pavium's own battlegroup supporting them overhead. That was fine by him. He needed his battlegroup to focus on evacuations right now.

Another series of massive explosions, not as many as the first, suddenly could be heard in the distance, much louder than before. The second line must have been hit, too. Regardless of whatever was causing it, it meant only one thing, Pavium's troops were out of time. They needed to pull out now, or risk annihilation.

"Voridus, nevermind my last order! I need you to start pulling out our troops to the last defensive. And get your ass back here to me as soon as you can! Pavium, out!" Pavium motioned for his Captains to come forth.

"I need you to gather your men and prepare to defend this position. Once they reach the third line, they'll no doubt insert troops here to try and sow chaos amongst our ranks. We need to be vigilant while we oversee the evac of our forces. We're almost done now, we just need to hold out for a little longer!"

"Enemy Phantoms! Approaching from the west!" An Unggoy shouted from outside. Pavium quickly grabbed his heavy mortar cannon, making sure it was properly on and rushed outside to assist in the defense.

* * *

 **And that's it for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed. The last chapter is gonna be a long one, probably 20-25k+ if I had to give an honest estimate. So as stated above, due to me getting deployed soon, this may be the last chapter update for a while. Hopefully, I'll be able to write some overseas, but I don't know yet as of now.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Let me know what you thought in the review, and as always, I'll see you next time!**

 **-Azores**


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